Is Mike Smith the worst goalie in the league?

[Jordan Belfort]

I’ve been watching the Flames and this guy let’s in absolute garbage goals. He looks so bad in the net and everything seems to squeak by him. Is he the worst?

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[tony d]

No, he's not. He's bad but there are worse goalies in the league than Mike Smith.

 

[Snakepit]

He's just too hot and cold. until he pulled his groin or whatever last night he was looking all right and he's riding a six-game win streak before that.

The guy just has no consistency he's either lights out or just terrible

 

[crackdown44]

He's just too hot and cold. until he pulled his groin or whatever last night he was looking all right and he's riding a six-game before that.

The guy just has no consistency he's either lights out or just terrible

Yeah and unfortunately more cold than hot this year. Even on that 6-gamer he let in some floaters. No confidence watching games when he’s in

 

[qwerty]

New equipment has definitely affected him. He didn’t give up even half of the bad goals he’s given up all of last season. Not sure if age has been factor, but pucks are trickling in seemingly every other game and he doesn’t seem to realize it until it’s in the net.

 

[JPeeper]

Just when you think he's turned the corner (6-0-0 1.50 GAA, .930 SV % in his last 6), he let's in that 2nd goal in Nashville and that 4th goal in Philly.

From the stats I've seen and other fans complaining, I think Schneider and Allen are worse though.

 

[2023FriendshipTour]

He's pretty darn close at this point... And we are still #3 overall, and firmly one of only 3 Canadian teams that have a chance this year.

 

[koyvoo]

No, he's not. He's bad but there are worse goalies in the league than Mike Smith.

Who would those goalies be?

 

[strictlyrandy]

Nope. Pickard, Allen, and Schneider have all been worse. Mike Smith is bad no doubt, but he isn't the worst.

 

[crackdown44]

Nope. Pickard, Allen, and Schneider have all been worse. Mike Smith is bad no doubt, but he isn't the worst.

Wouldn’t really consider Pickard an NHL goalie but yeah Allen and Schneider have been worse and Talbot has been mildly better at best

 

[Anaheim4ever]

Flames wouldn't be as exciting if they had a good goalie, it would make their offense work less hard thus lower scoring games.
Its like those Texas Ranger teams in MLB that had incredible run production but their pitchers gave up so many hits & HRs that they'd win games regularly with scores like 10 to 8, 11 to 7, 15 to 10 etc.

 

[strictlyrandy]

Wouldn’t really consider Pickard an NHL goalie but yeah Allen and Schneider have been worse and Talbot has been mildly better at best

Was going off of goalies that have a minimum of 10 games played, Picks made that cut. I do agree though, he is not NHL caliber.

 

[JFHockey]

He's played 19 games, complete trash for 11 of them.

If he plays in the playoffs, I give him a 50/50 chance of single handedly guttering the team in the first round, regardless of opponent. It's real easy to imagine Smith having a +4 gaa & -.88 save% in the playoffs.

 

[Anaheim4ever]

He's played 19 games, complete trash for 11 of them.

If he plays in the playoffs, I give him a 50/50 chance of single handedly guttering the team in the first round, regardless of opponent. It's real easy to imagine Smith having a +4 gaa & -.88 save% in the playoffs.

Perhaps they'll trade for Quick ? Even acquiring a quality backup from another team will allow them to use less Mike Smith.

 

[135ace]

Corey Schneider is by far and away the worst goalie in the league.
He Bernie Madoff'd us into giving him a fat contract, then took away our chance at lottery picks in the McDavid/Matthews draft by stealing points and making us think he was providing decent results only to pull the rug out from under us and play like utter donkeycrap the moment the team became relevant.

 

[blankall]

Perhaps they'll trade for Quick ? Even acquiring a quality backup from another team will allow them to use less Mike Smith.

Quick has been awful after his injury and signed long term. No thanks.

If it becomes clear that Bobrovsky will not sign, there could be a deal there. Rittich is already quality backup level. The problem is Mike Smith is at his best when he plays a lot....

 

[Royal Thunder]

The Weise goal yesterday might be the weakest goal ive ever seen in the NHL. Smith looked like a bad peewee goalie, not even square to the puck.

I still think he's a good goalie but he's one of those guys who runs extremely hot and cold.

 

[WreckingCrew]

Who would those goalies be?

Darling kindly requests you hold his beer...

 

[gumgum]

I think Smith's a reasonably good, extremely mentally fragile player

 

[Rygu]

Cory Schneider says hello.

 

[2023FriendshipTour]

The Weise goal yesterday might be the weakest goal ive ever seen in the NHL. Smith looked like a bad peewee goalie, not even square to the puck.

I still think he's a good goalie but he's one of those guys who runs extremely hot and cold.

Definitely looked like a timbits goalie on that one.. I think he was spaced out or something.

 

[SC2GM]

Mike Smith is probably the only goaltender that I've looked forward to "my team" facing. It always felt like a joke/meme facing the guy. He seemed really below average in stopping pucks, and the announcers would bloviate, non stop, about Smith's puck handling abilities.

Yet, every game... you looked forward to facing him cause you felt like Smith would spot your team at least a goal through trying to "showboat with the puck" and forgetting that he belongs in the net, and his puck handling is no better than anyone else's; he just likes taking far more risk than anyone else. At least, that's what I've seen in my experience of him vs "my team."

All that said... the guy is 36, so how good is he supposed to be at this stage? He still has a career save % that is higher than Jake Allen's, and Allen has played on Blues teams where everyone in the world but Allen put up gaudy, gaudy numbers.

Smith could probably lose an arm and still be better than Allen, even at 36. He might try to be less cavalier handling the puck too. Shoot, might even make him better.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Darling kindly requests you hold his beer...

I thought he was sent down, and therefore not eligible for this particular debate.

 

[Field of Dreams]

Goalies are like parashoots in the sense that the overwhelming determinant of quality is consistancy. I would not jump out of a plane with a Mike Smith parashoot.

 

[Volica]

Flames wouldn't be as exciting if they had a good goalie, it would make their offense work less hard thus lower scoring games.
Its like those Texas Ranger teams in MLB that had incredible run production but their pitchers gave up so many hits & HRs that they'd win games regularly with scores like 10 to 8, 11 to 7, 15 to 10 etc.

Essentially if the Flames had an elite goalie, it would be boring because a good goalie could make 20 routine saves a night and 2-3 good chances; and the Flames would have the puck all night.
When we get average goaltending, we look elite; because the defence is grade A, the coaching is grade A and defensive coverage on lines is up there among the best when everyone's healthy.

To answer this question. Mike Smith has been bad this year more than he has been good. Like I mentioned, all we ask for on our team is that we can get a guy who makes routine stops and we are like 50/50 getting that with Smith; alone he's probably cost the Flames a solid 6-10 points, which is obscene.