Calgary's Mike Smith had 22 losses this year, Calgary scored 0 or 1 goal in 16 of them

[BrannigansLaw]

The main reason Calgary isn't in the running for Dahlin is that they traded their first for Hamonic, lol.

They call that the Brian Burke special. Build a team that collapses when it counts with no first round pick.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

As a Flames fan I don't find it delicious . . . But yeah, the irony is there considering he said something along the lines of "looked forward to backstopping a group that he didn't need to be perfect for night in and night out."

Lol, yeah. Calgary's offensive production was atrocious, particularly down the stretch.

He more or less said he "was excited to be soon passing the puck to a team of guys who could score."

Given how this didn't work, I wonder if this means he'll just be smothering the puck until the whistle from now on?

 

[InfinityIggy]

I mean, most of our board agrees he was our MVP or close to it. I don't see anyone blaming him really.

 

[blankall]

Smith was great up until his injury.

It was just awful timing for the team. The Smith injury also coincided with Monahan's body falling apart. It's kind of a shame, because we were just starting to actually get some depth scoring out of Jankowski and Bennett at that point. Frolik also began to battle through injury too. Combine that with an unaddaptive coaching system, and the season was done.

People forget that the Flames were right up there within striking distance of #2 in the division until the Smith injury.

If the Flames can find a way to play like they did for the middle 40 games of this season, they'll be contenders. The first 20 and last 20 games were abysmal.

 

[Tkachuky]

They call that the Brian Burke special. Build a team that collapses when it counts with no first round pick.

He is not the GM... But appreciate your strong analysis.

 

[Plub]

At least you are playing behind guys who can "actually score", right Mike?

 

[OilerTyler]

Having a locker room cancer like Smith in net can’t be good for team morale. Although he has good games I wouldn’t be surprised if his presence alone negatively affects the play of everyone in front of him.

There is a reason why he is never on good teams.

 

[madmike77]

The Flames had the second lowest shooting percentage in the entire league I believe, so it’s not exactly a shock.

 

[GeeoffBrown]

I thought it was just a matter of goaltending? What’s the new excuse this year?

Atrocious special teams. Terrible bottom 6. Team relies heavily on 3 forwards, so if they have off-games, the team loses. The team's best goal scorer was playing through injuries that required 4 surgeries.

 

[Tkachuk Norris]

How does Gully still have a job and yet Hartley got canned with a much worse team and no goalie?

 

[Reinhart]

I have loved Smith so far. Reliable starter with some outstanding games, and makes life a tonne easier for the Flames' D. I have actually also really loved his leadership and willingness to speak up when needed. I didn't think I was going to like him, but like him I do.

It is just unfortunate that Calgary is running a completely inept system that doesn't seem to use any of the team's strengths - like actually creating offence from the defence - everyone not named Hamilton is way down in points. Don't get me started on the transition game. It HAS to be the slowest transition in the league, and it makes absolutely no sense considering the speed on the team.

"Gio, I want you to pass the puck to Hamilton. Good. Now Hamilton. Listen up. I want you to pass it back to Gio, but this time ring it around the boards behind the goalie. Atta boy Hamilton! Ok, Gio, I want you to fake a forward pass, and instead, I want you to pass it back to Hamilton."

It is infuriating. Half the games Brodie looks like crap. He was such an amazing puck moving D who was deadly on offence and defence. Now he just looks lost.

Calgary does have one of the top defensive cores in the league, but it is neither getting it done offensively (like they are supposed to) or even defensively. The system is atrocious. The 5-man transition was great... in 1990. What a huge step back from Hartley's system. That's why Calgary doesn't score, and that is why Smith just got one of his last years wasted in the NHL. I expect Gulutzan to be the next coaching casualty.

 

[Oilers Propagandist]

"I'm really looking forward to passing (to) some of these guys that can actually score!" Smith said with a laugh, before adding, "Did I say that on live radio?" with more laughter.

Guys a dick, only reason the flames of calgary are despised on my end.

 

[pvr]

“Calgary’s Mike Smith had 22 losses this year, Calgary scored 0 or 1 goal in 16 of them.”

I think that’s phenomenal...couldn’t happen to a nicer dou!@#bag. Deserves every bit of hockey hell he gets as retribution for all of the bs he pulls on ice.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

I thought it was just a matter of goaltending? What’s the new excuse this year?

Offense was dreadful this season.

 

[McDNicks17]

Mike Smith

I think it has become easy to blame the goalies for Calgary but if anything I was amazed to read this stat. If you need your goalie to be perfect every night to win, that is not a recipe for success, and I think some major changes are needed in Calgary.

Also kind of funny or ironic giving his comments to start the year

Mike Smith quips he's excited to pass to players who 'can actually score'

The irony is amazing.

 

[Kamiccolo]

The irony is amazing.

What irony?

 

[McDNicks17]

What irony?

He chirped the Coyotes about not scoring and then lost a bunch of games due to the Flames not scoring.

 

[Kamiccolo]

He chirped the Coyotes about not scoring and then lost a bunch of games due to the Flames not scoring.

Oh ok. Sorry.

 

[BakedYams]

The headline is a bit misleading as the 22 losses mentioned were in regulation, plus 6 OTL. (And 3 of those by Shootout.) Only 10 of those regulation losses had the Flames scoring 0 or 1 goal.
In those 28 losses, he allowed 86 goals for a GAA of 3.071. (Using the same link in the OP)
Obviously the number is inflated due to solely analyzing losses, but that doesn't necessarily take away from the great season he had.

His injury and perhaps coming back before he was ready (something he almost never does) really made his play fall off a cliff. His save percentages by month;
Sep: .931
Oct: .918
Nov: .911
Dec: .943
Jan: .888 (5 games, pre-injury)
Feb: .880

An argument could be had that he was over-used throughout the season but as some Flames fans have mentioned, the team was in the running for 2nd in the division so one could hardly blame Gulutzan for riding him.

 

[CuriousGeorge]

Mike Smith

I think it has become easy to blame the goalies for Calgary but if anything I was amazed to read this stat. If you need your goalie to be perfect every night to win, that is not a recipe for success, and I think some major changes are needed in Calgary.

Also kind of funny or ironic giving his comments to start the year

Mike Smith quips he's excited to pass to players who 'can actually score'

It does not matter. Mike Smith is not stealing games and that is the difference of why they are not in the playoffs.

 

[rent free]

It does not matter. Mike Smith is not stealing games and that is the difference of why they are not in the playoffs.

It wouldn't hurt for them to score more goals

 

[awfulwaffle]

I thought Calgary could score though?

 

[FlamerForLife]

I thought Calgary could score though?

Relying on 1 line + Tkachuk clearly wasn't enough.

 

[ChuckLefley]

Moving south from Calgary, official Blues whipping boy, Jake Allen, had 0 or 1 goal scored for him in 16 of his 25 losses.

 

[Reinhart]

I thought Calgary could score though?

They USED to be able to score goals under the previous coach, but the offence dried up under Gulutzan somewhat.

Also, it is funny how Smith was looking forward to making use of his stick handling and ability to pass the puck forward, but under Gulutzan the Flames had to play a 5 man unit, which meant that instead of moving the puck up the ice quickly, they would first pass it back and forth between defencemen until they were set to break out 5 on 5. Negated all the team speed, negated the offensive abilities and speed of the defence, and negated Smith's ability to pass the puck.

I think Gulutzan's system is a good one for old teams that don't have a lot of speed, or for teams at least that don't have many strong passing defencemen. This system is completely wrong for the Flames, and it dried up the offence while really not being all that defensively strong... but hey, at least CORSI was fricken amazing, right! Can not wait until Gulutzan is canned. Good guy, but can't figure out the team's strengths, and seems unable to make adjustments.

This team should have scored a lot more than they did. It seems everyone outside of the top line and Hamilton took a large step back in points. The D especially - all of them not named Hamilton has experienced reduced offence from either the previous coach, or even the previous teams that they were on (like Hamonic in NYI and Stone in Arizona).