Examining the Mike Smith Situation

[LastWordArmy]

Is it time to get rid of Mike Smith and give Louis Dominique the reigns, or does Smith still have value to the Coyotes.

An indepth look at his play and the options available.

http://lastwordonsports.com/2016/07/30/what-to-do-about-mike-smith/

Click to read more...

 

[KG]

Where is the advanced stat for his tantrums and tendency to stare down people.

 

[_Del_]

That's an intangible

 

[AZviaNJ]

The Coyotes success (or lack thereof) will be largely driven by the performance and health of #41. Hardly new news, just lost in the RFA & trade madness.

 

[hbk]

Buy him out after this season. Deal for Bishop before expansion draft.

 

[Ebb]

We're still at a wait and see stage with Smith (coming off of his surgery). While he did well upon his return, I'm still hoping Domingue gets plenty of ice-time this season.

The good thing is that we can actually trade him now since he has a list of only 8 teams he cannot be traded to. Hopefully he does decently this season and we get a playoff-bound taker at the deadline that needs a replacement starter (due to some sort of injury--not that I wish ill on any other goalies) and DT is willing to move him.

Domingue/Peters would be okay to finish out the season if we aren't in a playoff position (unless we acquire another solid backup/1B in the Smith deal or a separate one).

 

[CBJ goalie]

Mike Smith fan here....after he came back from surgery, I think he showed how he could really play.
That being said, it will be interesting to see how he handles sharing the crease with Domingue, who really proved he deserves more ice time.

 

[hbk]

Mike Smith fan here....after he came back from surgery, I think he showed how he could really play.
That being said, it will be interesting to see how he handles sharing the crease with Domingue, who really proved he deserves more ice time.

He's a garbage time quarterback. Looks great when season is over.

 

[Mosby]

Buy him out after this season. Deal for Bishop before expansion draft.

Interesting!

 

[jmichael7753*]

The baseless Mike Smith hate from some coyotes fans (mostly on these boards is absolutely ridiculous. Louis is not ready for full time yet.

 

[SniperHF]

Smith's Save percentage was well below league average for like a year and a half. He earned it.

 

[Guest]

I haven't kept up with the expansion draft rules to know for sure, but don't we have to expose a certain amount of dollars in the expansion draft? I would think the logical choice would be to expose Smith for the expansion draft, if he doesn't have a bounce back year and even then I'm not sure it's worth keeping him long term. If this season is basically a flop then you expose Smith to Vegas and hope or work out a deal to get them to select him. If all else fails then you could consider a buyout after that. Even then you could argue holding onto him for one more season may be worth it for that expansion draft and all of the same conditions.

A lot really depends on how well this season goes and the direction of the team. Maybe Domingue gets more time this year and looks more like the last half of his season (6-12-1, ~2.8 GAA, .908 SV%, 0 SO) than the first half (9-6-4, ~2.6 GAA, .914 SV%, 2 SO). If that happens, there are still issues in goal. At his best last season (first half) Louie was statistically the same as Smith, but I think we all agree that if we can get that kind of goaltending consistently this team could be a playoff team.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

We would need to go outside the system to get a replacement for Mike Smith. Domingue is not ready for prime time. Much as I share the aggravation over Mike Smith's performance, we're not ready to let him go.

 

[Ebb]

I figure Domingue isn't quite ready yet, but he needs to be in a situation where he gets more starts than he has with a healthy Smith. DT has tended to overplay Smith when he's stinking up the place. We were doing quite well with Dubnyk as BU until Smitty got all hissy. I also figure DT played a part in the Dubnyk thing as well.

I'm fine with keeping Smith this season and hoping he does well, but hope Domingue develops enough to take over the starting position by 2017-2018 (or at least share the net with a 1B that's not Smitty)

 

[Naych_PHX]

I figure Domingue isn't quite ready yet, but he needs to be in a situation where he gets more starts than he has with a healthy Smith. DT has tended to overplay Smith when he's stinking up the place. We were doing quite well with Dubnyk as BU until Smitty got all hissy. I also figure DT played a part in the Dubnyk thing as well.

I'm fine with keeping Smith this season and hoping he does well, but hope Domingue develops enough to take over the starting position by 2017-2018 (or at least share the net with a 1B that's not Smitty)

The Dubnyk thing? Are you saying DT forced the trade of Dubnyk? Cause when he was here, he was our only chance at winning that season (the tank season), and we all know DT hates losing so I can't see how he'd be in favor of getting rid of the guy who gave the team the best chance at winning. I don't think he's as much of a cheerleader of Smith as people think he is. He's just a fan of having a clear #1, imo. So it will be interesting to see how he handles things this season since Domingue has earned his chance at more starts.

 

[RemoAZ]

We would need to go outside the system to get a replacement for Mike Smith. Domingue is not ready for prime time. Much as I share the aggravation over Mike Smith's performance, we're not ready to let him go.

Agree. The slim chances this team has to make the playoffs include Smith. He'll be the goalie as long as he's healthy. Need a good season from him and another good year of development from the youth.

 

[Mosby]

I haven't kept up with the expansion draft rules to know for sure, but don't we have to expose a certain amount of dollars in the expansion draft?

This rule was bandied about but was never added to the final draft criteria.

 

[Ebb]

The Dubnyk thing? Are you saying DT forced the trade of Dubnyk? Cause when he was here, he was our only chance at winning that season (the tank season), and we all know DT hates losing so I can't see how he'd be in favor of getting rid of the guy who gave the team the best chance at winning. I don't think he's as much of a cheerleader of Smith as people think he is. He's just a fan of having a clear #1, imo. So it will be interesting to see how he handles things this season since Domingue has earned his chance at more starts.

I think it was a combination of Smitty tantrums, DT wanting a clear #1, and DM taking the best opportunity to tank for a #1 draft pick. I'm pretty sure DT is a huge Smitty advocate. We'll see this season, but I'm guessing (if Smith remains healthy) that DT will play Smith substantially more than Domingue, even with Smitty inconsistency streaks.

Upon reflection, I'm wondering if Domingue took the low contract (he probably should have earned about twice what he accepted) to help his value at the TDL. I may just be cynical, but I highly doubt we expose Smith over Domingue with the current front office (unless he does REALLY poorly this season). Of course, I'm sure there will be plenty of goaltending options for LV (starters & backups) that they won't want Smith; however, Domingue would be tempting as a backup or 1B (especially with his current contract).

Prognosticating quite a bit, I'm thinking Domingue will be moved at the TDL (or possibly earlier) for a decent piece and that Peters will finish out the season as our backup (leaving Hill and Langhamer in Tucson). We might also acquire another depth goalie, but I would guess he'd be in Rapid City until they figure out what to do with Langhamer.

 

[cobra427]

Agree. The slim chances this team has to make the playoffs include Smith. He'll be the goalie as long as he's healthy. Need a good season from him and another good year of development from the youth.

Based on that article Smith might be better then most think he is. Maybe this year he can stay healthy and LD can do a decent job as his back up. Our D and PK should be much better with Gogo and that should help the goalies.

 

[The Feckless Puck]

The baseless Mike Smith hate from some coyotes fans (mostly on these boards is absolutely ridiculous. Louis is not ready for full time yet.

Hate is baseless.

But there is a tremendous corpus of data and evidence for warranted criticism.

 

[Bonsai Tree]

Hate is baseless.

But there is a tremendous corpus of data and evidence for warranted criticism.

corpus? Studying Latin in your spare time?

 

[Coyotes2000]

Keep him, look at his last 10 games. Outside of a turd vs STL he was incredible.

 

[_Del_]

He's always incredible for 10 games, kylo. It's the other 72 that are concerning.

 

[Jakey53]

He's always incredible for 10 games, kylo. It's the other 72 that are concerning.

That is true. I thought Smith had it as being a #1 goalie in the league, but maybe his injury was really that bad. Time will tell and in all honesty, we don't have a choice.

 

[WJF]

GMDM's most catastrophic signing, worse than the Ribeiro deal IMHO. Didn't make sense when he did it, makes even less sense today. Mike Smith is laughing all the way to the bank.