Confirmed with Link: Oilers Sign Mike Smith to 1-Year Deal ($2M)

[Mr Positive]

It seemed like Smith got a lot more goal support then Koskinen last year.

Also I’d say that while his abilities playing the puck can help, he was way to liberal with last season and it was more of a detriment. They will need him to pick his spots better this year.

Why would he get more goal support though? I could see the team pushing for offense more because they worry about Smith more, but the effect of that wouldn't be that big. His puck support has to explain a good portion of it

 

[Mr Positive]

Whether it's because of Smith's puck moving or not it is very safe to say Smith got waaaaaaaaaaaaay more run support than Koskinen.

I never understand why it is this way but it seems to happen often. One goalie gets way more run support. I remember when we had Khabibulin we would lose 1-0 or 2-1 often but win barn burners without.

I'm guessing Khabi had more wins then. If a team is gunning for offense because their own goalie sucks, the opposition will eventually pick them apart

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

Smith at 1.5 x 1 is better than Markstrom at 5 x 7. He will be fine for 1 year with Koskinen especially in a truncated season.

Is it perfect? No.

Is it better than overspending and overterming?
Yes.

 

[Aerchon]

Smith at 1.5 x 1 is better than Markstrom at 5 x 7. He will be fine for 1 year with Koskinen especially in a truncated season.

Is it perfect? No.

Is it better than overspending and overterming?
Yes.

1.5? Smith is signed for 2 mill. Unless there is a performance bonus we are not aware of?

 

[yukoner88]

1.5? Smith is signed for 2 mill. Unless there is a performance bonus we are not aware of?

1.5 salary .5 performance bonuses

 

[TopShelfGloveSide]

1.5? Smith is signed for 2 mill. Unless there is a performance bonus we are not aware of?

 

[5 Mins 4 Ftg]

1.5? Smith is signed for 2 mill. Unless there is a performance bonus we are not aware of?

Yea it’s 1.5 with 500k in bonuses.

 

[PaPaDee]

Yea it’s 1.5 with 500k in bonuses.

nice.

 

[bellagiobob]

Not thrilled with the same tandem to start next year, but I would be more pissed off if Holland hadn't tried to upgrade the position. He clearly tried, and end of the day you can't force players to come here. I don't think that will be the tandem come the 40 game mark next year.

 

[space321]

Well if a goalie is a lot worse in goalie stats but the team still wins the game, doesnt that get you wondering?

Now I'm not so pro Smith that I think he's as good as Koskinen, and I know that total wins is a team stat so it's a bit of a stretch to attribute it to Smith, but I'm just saying it's possible.

No it doesn't get me wondering. It just means the team scored more goals last year. I'm just saying, for any good play he made with his puck handling, he had just as much blunders. His puck handling is not a net positive. That's from my eye test at least.

 

[Aerchon]

I hate those performance bonuses with Tippett padding them but that is nice that he is only technically 1.5 to start.

 

[Mr Positive]

No it doesn't get me wondering. It just means the team scored more goals last year. I'm just saying, for any good play he made with his puck handling, he had just as much blunders. His puck handling is not a net positive. That's from my eye test at least.

Imo the eye test is biased. If he makes a blunder it's in the net and all eyes are on him. If he makes a good pass, if it leads to a goal there would have been many other passes after his pass. All eyes are on the skaters who put the puck in.

Most of his puck handling will just be to get the puck out of the zones. Probably for every blunder, theres 20 beneficial plays, or more. He does them all game as just a feature of his style.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Yea it’s 1.5 with 500k in bonuses.

Its fair too. I mean how do we pay Koskinen what we do, way more, and then go to the Smith camp, with a goalie playing half the games, and say, sorry, I'm not chiarelli, no gravy for you.

This is more than fair consideirng Koski can never shoulder the load and the backup has a lot of games. I mean there were segments where Smith was clearly the better option and the team was winning with him in net.

 

[Drivesaitl]

Imo the eye test is biased. If he makes a blunder it's in the net and all eyes are on him. If he makes a good pass, if it leads to a goal there would have been many other passes after his pass. All eyes are on the skaters who put the puck in.

Most of his puck handling will just be to get the puck out of the zones. Probably for every blunder, theres 20 beneficial plays, or more. He does them all game as just a feature of his style.

Knives really seem to be out for Smith. He's one reason we got into the post season. Overall our goaltending was better the past season than I expected it to be, and Smith was part of that. Has to be considered that the Oilers have no shutdown pair, and dont really have a shutdown line, and the whole team played horrible most of December. That screwed up the stats for a lot of players.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Knives really seem to be out for Smith. He's one reason we got into the post season. Overall our goaltending was better the past season than I expected it to be, and Smith was part of that. Has to be considered that the Oilers have no shutdown pair, and dont really have a shutdown line, and the whole team played horrible most of December. That screwed up the stats for a lot of players.

Smith is either really hot or really cold.

I hope tippett doesn't let him play through his cold streaks too long to try and find his game.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

Imo the eye test is biased. If he makes a blunder it's in the net and all eyes are on him. If he makes a good pass, if it leads to a goal there would have been many other passes after his pass. All eyes are on the skaters who put the puck in.

Most of his puck handling will just be to get the puck out of the zones. Probably for every blunder, theres 20 beneficial plays, or more. He does them all game as just a feature of his style.

He does save the defense alot of punishment and help the breakout.

 

[backhandsauce]

I know most of you hate this but I love how much he plays the puck. I have a feeling the guys like it too. Think he is a good locker room guy. Like I said earlier if Holland can move Koskinen and bring in a Kuemper and have Smith as the back up, we are in good shape.

 

[Drivesaitl]

I know most of you hate this but I love how much he plays the puck. I have a feeling the guys like it too. Think he is a good locker room guy. Like I said earlier if Holland can move Koskinen and bring in a Kuemper and have Smith as the back up, we are in good shape.

Most times a goalie playing the puck is bonus, and most times Smith does it its bonus. But people tend to remember the miscues and pay hardly any attention to the 20 times in a row that the teams transition is far better with Smith in net.

To wit all of Smiths stats are worse than Koski, but the Oilers had an identical record under Smith and most of the season the club had a better record with Smith in the cage. Doesn't the club have higher GF with Smith in net?

 

[Oilhawks]

Pretty easy to predict what our story line will be next off season.....aka what does the FA goalie crop look like next year?

I will eat a hat if we have a solid season in net.

Glad you didn't say you'd eat a shoe. It's been done

 

[jukon]

Are they going to prorate the bonuses if we don't play an 82 game season? I feel like we need a shortened season clause in all of our conditions now.

 

[McDNicks17]

Really didn't want Smith back, but if he was the difference in squeezing Barrie in, I won't complain.

 

[CanmoreMike]

Are they going to prorate the bonuses if we don't play an 82 game season? I feel like we need a shortened season clause in all of our conditions now.

They prorated the goals in the Neal-Lucic trade. Would be pretty hypocritical of the coolest league on earth not being consistent.

 

[redgrant]

Most times a goalie playing the puck is bonus, and most times Smith does it its bonus. But people tend to remember the miscues and pay hardly any attention to the 20 times in a row that the teams transition is far better with Smith in net.

To wit all of Smiths stats are worse than Koski, but the Oilers had an identical record under Smith and most of the season the club had a better record with Smith in the cage. Doesn't the club have higher GF with Smith in net?

He is not one of the reasons they got to the playoffs. There was an stretch his save percentage was under. 850.

His atrocious save percentage speaks for itself and blaming the 3rd line and defense is ludicrous. The best thing for this team is not to rely on a goalie near 40 years of age.

 

[oobga]

They prorated the goals in the Neal-Lucic trade. Would be pretty hypocritical of the coolest league on earth not being consistent.

They did the games played pro-rating across the board, so likely they will do it again next year.

This looch/Neal pro-rating was specially done just to screw us.

 

[OfCorsiDid]

I don’t like this. There was much better options in FA.