Move Smith to Forward?

[19 for president]

With Marchy seemingly securing his spot as our 6th dman, and Quincey eventually coming back would you be be pro trying Smith as a forward.

I think I would for the following reasons.

1. I don't think he is tradeable at the moment.

2. Our 4th line is very meh. Smith will fight, is an excellent skater, and could probably be a pretty good defensive forward, where he isn't a great defensive dman.

3. At forward Smith would be encouraged to jump into the play more and be more physical. The guy has good size and speed. He could be encourage to crash the net and find the seems.

4. He gives us a backup option if one of our dman gets hurt in a game. We don't have to worry about playing short handed, which could be a major boon come playoff time if we say go into OT.

In contrast we'd have like 4 mil sitting on the bench every night between him and Kindl. Neither has probably played well enough to be traded.

What do you guys thing?

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[SoupGuru]

Hell no. With all the other forwards we have waiting in the wings, why would we try to shoe-horn a guy in?

 

[SpookyTsuki]

Unless he plays better then Quincey its the only shot of him with staying in this franchise.

And honestly, I would give him a game or two at the forward position. Only because he likes to play offence more then his actual position.

 

[Henkka]

Yes, temporarily. He was good last time used there (was it two seasons ago) ?

 

[JPE123]

I think moving to forward is the only way Smith stays in the league for any length of time whether it's with the wings or someone else

 

[Number1RedWingsFan52]

I'd be willing to move Smith to forward next year then that opens another spot for one of the kids next summer like both Marchenko and Ouellet. Try and trade Kindl or waive him right before the 2016/17 season to open a spot for Jensen then most likely that leaves Sproul as the odd man out.

 

[edmundbenz]

Like what they did to Brent Burns.

 

[Mijatovic]

I think given the number of forwards we have plus upcoming, im not sure there is room

 

[Frk It]

All our other forwards and forwards in GR are a lot better as forwards.

 

[odin1981]

All our other forwards and forwards in GR are a lot better as forwards.

It could keep him here with a temporary spot. Nastasiak is probably the next bottom 6'r and he looks atm right now to be 2+ years away. I don't mind him as a converted forward. But as a d-man lol. Maybe they should have started to try to convert him earlier if not for Babcock. But if he wants a spot on the DRW he needs to switch. Cause as a UFA not even Kenny would want to keep him (I hope).

 

[Pavels Dog]

I see competition up front as tougher than it is on the back-end. For Smith to be converted to forward and last on this team, he would need to pretty much instantly 'get it'. I don't think he could do it. If we were weak on forwards and strong on D it would be a worthwile experiment, but in our current situation I think Smith is useful as a 3rd pairing guy and Mantha/AA/Jurco/Andersson/Callahan/Bertuzzi can fill in up front.

 

[odin1981]

I see competition up front as tougher than it is on the back-end. For Smith to be converted to forward and last on this team, he would need to pretty much instantly 'get it'. I don't think he could do it. If we were weak on forwards and strong on D it would be a worthwile experiment, but in our current situation I think Smith is useful as a 3rd pairing guy and Mantha/AA/Jurco/Andersson/Callahan/Bertuzzi can fill in up front.

If placed as a 4th line forward his competition is only Andersson/twitterwhiner/Bertuzzi. If he cannot beat out them then he doesn't belong in the league.

Don't really see how he would be in a difficult spot there. As well as if Bert developes accordingly he will most likely slot into a middle winger spot (more than likely on 3rd line at the start).

 

[Peter Tosh]

Wouldn't mind trading Smith

 

[Eggberto]

So this is a nice hypothetical, and I for one think Smith could make a nice forward BUT it takes a player willing to make that change. Smith identifies hinself as a d-man and I do not think he'd be willing to switch positions on a permanent basis.

Could he do it? Most likely. He has decent puck skills and offensive awareness, but would he want to? I personally don't think so.

 

[Pavels Dog]

Could he do it? Most likely. He has decent puck skills and offensive awareness, but would he want to? I personally don't think so.

This is the thing.. I'm not seeing that. Decent puck skills? Perhaps. Not great, but decent. Offensive awareness...? No. He's pretty bad at reading when to jump in offensively and when to hang back. I see Dekeyser, Green, Kronwall, Kindl, all being better better at pinching in offensively and they more often join offensive rushes.
And those times when Smith do jump in offensively, nothing ever happens.

If Smith would somehow make the transition to forward he would be like Miller at best. A PK specialist and 4th liner that can maybe score 10 goals in a season. And honestly I'm not sure it's worth spending time trying to get him to learn a new position simply for that.

 

[Eggberto]

This is the thing.. I'm not seeing that. Decent puck skills? Perhaps. Not great, but decent. Offensive awareness...? No. He's pretty bad at reading when to jump in offensively and when to hang back. I see Dekeyser, Green, Kronwall, Kindl, all being better better at pinching in offensively and they more often join offensive rushes.
And those times when Smith do jump in offensively, nothing ever happens.

If Smith would somehow make the transition to forward he would be like Miller at best. A PK specialist and 4th liner that can maybe score 10 goals in a season. And honestly I'm not sure it's worth spending time trying to get him to learn a new position simply for that.

I think his inability to determine when the right to to pinch or jump in offensively is more due to his lack of defensive awareness/IQ than it is his lack of offensive awareness. He doesn't recognize when there's a high likelihood of a rush going back the other way. Every now and again he shows flashes of his offensive ability and keeps a play alive, but as you said rarely does anything come from it. Smith is frustrating because he has the talent, but he can't put all of the pieces together.

I don't think it'd be worth moving Smith to forward. His ceiling isn't somehow higher as a forward than a defenseman, and I don't think he'd want to change anyway. I do think he'd be a better 4th liner than Andersson, Miller, or Glendening, but I also don't think it'd be worth it.

 

[Mantha Poodoo]

In all honesty, while he is a disappointment so far in terms of what we hoped his potential was, Smith is a #5-6 on >50% of the teams in the league and so assuming a totally healthy defense we're lucky to have him as a #7. He's far from perfect, but that's pretty much the battle cry of even good 3rd pairing d-men. That's why even the best 3rd pairing d-man is still a 3rd pairing d-man (excepting the very few who are stuck behind a logjam).

Given that it's highly unlikely that the defense is 100% healthy at all times, it's much more worthwhile to keep him on defense, particularly considering KFQ is a question mark for next year--he won't get anything less than 3m and I could see a team giving him ~4m if he doesn't crap the bed after he comes back, and we're going to need to be paying DDK at least that. Depending on how March develops we'd be looking at KFQ at #5 at best (possibly even #6 depending on what happens with March over the next 50-60 games) and honestly Smith at 2.25m rotating with someone like Omelette or Jensen or Russo makes more sense.

 

[CanadaIsIrrelevant]

If placed as a 4th line forward his competition is only Andersson/twitterwhiner/Bertuzzi. If he cannot beat out them then he doesn't belong in the league.

Don't really see how he would be in a difficult spot there. As well as if Bert developes accordingly he will most likely slot into a middle winger spot (more than likely on 3rd line at the start).

Who is twitterwhiner?

 

[odin1981]

Who is twitterwhiner?

Callahan. Whining on social media 2 years ago everytime a forward went down and he didn't get a call up.

 

[lilidk]

Solid and smart Marchenko will help Smith ,

 

[lilidk]

Wouldn't mind trading Smith

only if he got improved , so we can get something good in return

 

[odin1981]

Solid and smart Marchenko will help Smith ,

Dekeyser couldn't make him look better. Marchenko might make him a bit bearable but not long term. Hell before he got time again Marchenko was still a + player. Now after 3-5 games with Smith on his pairing he is a -3 or so.

 

[Mantha Poodoo]

Dekeyser couldn't make him look better. Marchenko might make him a bit bearable but not long term. Hell before he got time again Marchenko was still a + player. Now after 3-5 games with Smith on his pairing he is a -3 or so.

Dekeyser naturally plays the left side and so does Smith, thus a Dekeyser-Smith pairing had systemic issues.

Smith-Marchenko is a pairing with both players on their ideal side, and so far they've looked respectable together. From a physical perspective, they're a tough bottom pair to play against.

 

[odin1981]

Dekeyser naturally plays the left side and so does Smith, thus a Dekeyser-Smith pairing had systemic issues.

Smith-Marchenko is a pairing with both players on their ideal side, and so far they've looked respectable together. From a physical perspective, they're a tough bottom pair to play against.

Smith has always played his off side.

 

[Mantha Poodoo]

Smith has always played his off side.

Something that hasn't worked well in the NHL in combination with his defensively suspect play.