Speculation: Player Discussion: Will Smith

[vortexy]

Unfortunately Smith's point streak ends tonight but he honestly could have had 2-3 points tonight and this was definitely one of his best games of the year. The kid is growing and developing in front of our eyes and it's such a treat to watch. I am glad he is getting time on PP1 now and man when he is feeling he sure is fun to watch!

Loved this play he made that set up Poturalski who almost scored first NHL goal, imagine if it went in!

 

[DG93]

He's gaining confidence with every game too, which is great. I think Smith will be just fine.

 

[coooldude]

I'm still convinced that Zetts backhand went in. Not sure if Smith would have gotten the secondary but he made that sequence.

Kid's looking better. Granted, they gave him all kinds of space today, but he made the most of it. Can't believe Macklin didn't bury that one on the doorstep.

 

[Lebanezer]

Unfortunately Smith's point streak ends tonight but he honestly could have had 2-3 points tonight and this was definitely one of his best games of the year. The kid is growing and developing in front of our eyes and it's such a treat to watch. I am glad he is getting time on PP1 now and man when he is feeling he sure is fun to watch!

Loved this play he made that set up Poturalski who almost scored first NHL goal, imagine if it went in!

Almost got Poturalski his Bryan Lerg moment.

 

[gaucholoco3]

I thought going into the season that Smith was the best PPQB on the Sharks and he surely vindicated that thought today. Granlund always wanted to play catch with Walman where Smith is looking to hit the cross ice seem pass which pairs so well with Celebrini on the opposite wing.

Also that first PP goal was a thing of beauty and all a result of Smith controlling the play. Even Drew said nice things about him.

 

[coooldude]

I thought going into the season that Smith was the best PPQB on the Sharks and he surely vindicated that thought today. Granlund always wanted to play catch with Walman where Smith is looking to hit the cross ice seem pass which pairs so well with Celebrini on the opposite wing.

Also that first PP goal was a thing of beauty and all a result of Smith controlling the play. Even Drew said nice things about him.

I think he wasn't calibrated to the speed of defenders early in the season. Lots of times, the one shot the PP 2 had to enter zone and set up was tanked by Smith losing the puck on entry or trying to force a pass. Now that he's a bit more calibrated he knows when he needs to move it and when he can slow down.. Looked a lot better yesterday.

 

[gaucholoco3]

I think he wasn't calibrated to the speed of defenders early in the season. Lots of times, the one shot the PP 2 had to enter zone and set up was tanked by Smith losing the puck on entry or trying to force a pass. Now that he's a bit more calibrated he knows when he needs to move it and when he can slow down.. Looked a lot better yesterday.

It is also a lot easier to bring the puck into the zone with Celebrini and Eklund than Kunin and Zetterlund on the second unit. That said I do agree that Smith himself was fighting the puck earlier in the year even when set up in the zone. It’s why it was so nice to see how well he controlled the entire power play and freed Celebrini to not have to play make from the half wall.

 

[CHALUPA]

Makes sense that Smith had such a great game since he was on a line with Poturalski. Had some real AHL chemistry.

 

[Hodge]

He has a bit of Panarin in his game.

 

[DarrylshutzSydor]

He should network a way to practice with Kucherov in the summer.......

 

[Kcoyote3]

It's amazing he's able to do this with only AHL level skills.

 

[karltonian]

Almost got Poturalski his Bryan Lerg moment.

The Lergling Rush!

I think he wasn't calibrated to the speed of defenders early in the season. Lots of times, the one shot the PP 2 had to enter zone and set up was tanked by Smith losing the puck on entry or trying to force a pass. Now that he's a bit more calibrated he knows when he needs to move it and when he can slow down.. Looked a lot better yesterday.

Helps to have an elite zone enterer (entrant? entrist?) on the line eh?

 

[coooldude]

The Lergling Rush!


Helps to have an elite zone enterer (entrant? entrist?) on the line eh?

Of course it helps Smith to play with Celebrini, but even when they had PP shifts earlier in the year (there were a few), the play would often die on Smith's stick on zone entry. He's definitely getting better calibrated, it's not just Celebrini.

 

[landshark]

Helps to have an elite zone enterer (entrant? entrist?) on the line eh?

Entrant feels right, I'm a fan of "interlope(r)/(s)" it doesn't get enough love.

"Celebrini interlopes the offensive zone, dekes the defender and roofs it past the goalie."

Zone entries are so much more fun now!

I wonder what drove up the usage of the word? No Man's Sky maybe?

 

[HockeyScout1425]

The interesting thing about Smith is that there's not much inbetween with him. He's either really bad on a shift or he really dominates. I'd even argue hes more effective in the offensive zone than Macklin at creating when he's on his A game.

Skating is subpar, but at least we can reasonably expect him to be middle 6'er w/ PP utility. Also, to all the people saying he should have been in the AHL. His growth from game 1 towards now is exactly why that would have been such a waste of time. And to think, how insulting it would have been to him and his camp, if they had sent him to Tech CU when the big team actually CHOOSES to ice Luke Kunin every night. You would have had yourself a Gauthier situation and no one sane would have been able to blame the kid.

 

[CaptainShark]

Since not everybody reads the prospects-Board, i will post it here as well:

Have to toot Smittys horn once again (boy does that sound wrong):

After an up and down season and an especially rough stretch, something seems to have clicked since that game at TD Garden.

The Sharks are 1-8-3 in that stretch, being outscored 56 to 32 (- 24) in all situations, if someone has an easy way get the Even strength Numbers, i would appreciate that.

Despite that, Smith did not register a single game with a negative +/-.

His statline: 12 games, 3g, 8a, +8.

#nothittingrockbuthittinghisstride

 

[karltonian]

He's gonna be lights out next season when both he and beanie have additional man strength and conditioning.

 

[Tw1ster]

He's gonna be lights out next season when both he and beanie have additional man strength and conditioning.

 

[timorous me]

He's gonna be lights out next season when both he and beanie have additional man strength and conditioning.

It's interesting, coming out of the break I saw Smith in that Calgary game and was like, "Huh. Is he looking bigger or did I just forget and project?"

Whatever it is--I doubt he got that jacked over just two weeks--I think he's clearly playing with confidence and strength from that confidence. Obviously he's going to hit bumps in the road going forward and that confidence will wane, but seriously, the guy we're seeing now versus the guy we saw at the start of the season is like a man compared to a teenager. And seeing what the man version of Smith can do, it's pretty damn exciting.

 

[karltonian]

View attachment 984290

He hasn't been playing like an AHL player for a while now. The improvement is quite impressive and more than I expected by the end of the season, he was pretty damn rough early on.

It's interesting, coming out of the break I saw Smith in that Calgary game and was like, "Huh. Is he looking bigger or did I just forget and project?"

Whatever it is--I doubt he got that jacked over just two weeks--I think he's clearly playing with confidence and strength from that confidence. Obviously he's going to hit bumps in the road going forward and that confidence will wane, but seriously, the guy we're seeing now versus the guy we saw at the start of the season is like a man compared to a teenager. And seeing what the man version of Smith can do, it's pretty damn exciting.

maybe ...

 

[JoeThorntonsRooster]

Last night was Smith’s best game at the NHL level. He was outmuscling guys for pucks in ways he never had before. He’s the real deal.

 

[jMoneyBrah]

Since the Boston game on Jan 20th, Smith has 11 points in 12 games with a +8, leading all rookies over that period. He’s really coming on strong during the second half of the season.

Edit: lol, didn’t see that @CaptainShark already posted this.

 

[Barrie22]

Since january 1st, smith has 13 points in 20 games (tied for 5th among rookies).

2 points back of macklin and matvei. 5 points back of lane. And the only rookie in the top 5 to have a + rating at +4. Lane is at -7, matvei at -3, macklin at -12.

 

[Timo Time]

The biggest thing in his progression has been positioning. He has done a much better job sealing guys off along the boards and picking those small areas. It's something Macklin does so well that I do believe Smith has been picking up on. I am still amazed by his absolute cannon of a shot and his IQ is very high. Get him one more upgrade on his wing and I think next season he'll take off.

 

[hohosaregood]

Smith has always had a pretty good sense of spacing. He was rarely in a position to get hit at BC and that's starting to translate at the NHL level. He's also getting better at that on the breakout. For the last couple games, he's been reading the rim outs well and getting into position on the boards early to get the puck out of the zone.

According to NHL Edge data, he has one of the harder average shots in the NHL but I think a lot of that is this sense of spacing since he always has so much time to load up when he takes his shot. Could stand to make quicker shots but this is fun too.