Reilly Smith

[Will Hunting]

I´m quickly becoming allergic to this guy. I mean, every 50-60 pts player can get cold for a stretch, but you see the potential of him recovering and getting back to normal. But wtf is this?? This guy is basically our worst player 11 games in a row. Every. Single. Game. It´s not bad luck. Doesn´t look like cold streak to me. He is just doing nothing. No battle. Losing every battle and every puck. Creating nothing. Zero energy. Just complete tragedy.

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[pistolpete11]

I´m quickly becoming allergic to this guy. I mean, every 50-60 pts player can get cold for a stretch, but you see the potential of him recovering and getting back to normal. But wtf is this?? This guy is basically our worst player 11 games in a row. Every. Single. Game. It´s not bad luck. Doesn´t look like cold streak to me. He is just doing nothing. No battle. Losing every battle and every puck. Creating nothing. Zero energy. Just complete tragedy.

I'd say he's acclimated quite well then.

 

[Andy99]

Smith was billed as exactly what he is: a great off the rush player but not great otherwise…and we’re seeing that…as the system changed and L2’s rush opportunities dwindled, he’s not good…maybe Dubas should have projected where Sullivan was going with the system and avoided trading for this player lol

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

Has been a career ~50ish point guy throughout like 800 games in the NHL. He's dropped off a bit production-wise and looks like garbage away from the puck but it is what it is. Everybody more or less clocked him as a lateral move from a healthy Zucker putting up 45-50pts and he's been pretty much that.

I'd have played him with Sid and Jake but with Rakell out and now Rust on the shelf for who knows how long, that goes out the window.

 

[vodeni]

Has been a career ~50ish point guy throughout like 800 games in the NHL. He's dropped off a bit production-wise and looks like garbage away from the puck but it is what it is. Everybody more or less clocked him as a lateral move from a healthy Zucker putting up 45-50pts and he's been pretty much that.

I'd have played him with Sid and Jake but with Rakell out and now Rust on the shelf for who knows how long, that goes out the window.

It was really a short sample and ona bad night, but Rust on L2 and Smith on L1 caused immediately that L2 looks better and L1 could not do shit...not until he put Rust back on L1...We can't afford him on line with Geno, than you have two guys that can't forecheck and the third guy without hands..

 

[Pancakes]

He's been so bad for the past while that I wonder if he's playing hurt. Not much explanation otherwise for his play dropping off a cliff like this.

It's not even just his skating his hands just seem shot. That pass he tried to make to Sid last night on the rush was horrible. And he's bobbling 99% of pucks that end up on his stick.

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

It was really a short sample and ona bad night, but Rust on L2 and Smith on L1 caused immediately that L2 looks better and L1 could not do shit...not until he put Rust back on L1...We can't afford him on line with Geno, than you have two guys that can't forecheck and the third guy without hands..

Yeah, I mean, worst case scenario you got two lukewarm lines instead of one productive but shit defensive line (L1) and one miserable line in all aspects (L2) if you throw Smith with Sid and Jake and Rust with Geno. Even then, you can go back to Sully's true love of GCRust if it doesn't work.

This team's just weird and dumb.

 

[Buddy Bizarre]

He's been so bad for the past while that I wonder if he's playing hurt. Not much explanation otherwise for his play dropping off a cliff like this.

It's not even just his skating his hands just seem shot. That pass he tried to make to Sid last night on the rush was horrible. And he's bobbling 99% of pucks that end up on his stick.

That was my first inclination- he's hurt

 

[vodeni]

Yeah, I mean, worst case scenario you got two lukewarm lines instead of one productive but shit defensive line (L1) and one miserable line in all aspects (L2) if you throw Smith with Sid and Jake and Rust with Geno. Even then, you can go back to Sully's true love of GCRust if it doesn't work.

This team's just weird and dumb.

regardles of his slow start we are missing Rakell big time, there is no one else there that you can put up to have a few lines going at the same time

 

[Big Friggin Dummy]

regardles of his slow start we are missing Rakell big time, there is no one else there that you can put up to have a few lines going at the same time

We're definitely missing last season's Rakell. This season, Rakell's been just as bad as Smith's been the past few weeks. It's a mess.

 

[Gurglesons]

Salary Cap: - Pen Salary Cap: Dr StrangeDubas "Sir, you can't let him in here. He'll see everything. He'll see the big board!"

Heinen was good offensively again. Better than almost all our bottom 6'ers. He played 267 fewer minutes than the prior year, his average linemate quality went down, and his defensive zone starts got boosted by 19%. He was also blocked from top 6 minutes because of how healthy they were, and the...

forums.hfboards.com

As I said in July...

"I think Reilly Smith is going to disappoint a whole lotta people next season tbh."

Would've been a great move if we added more forward depth, but expecting him to be a key top six contributor at his age was always a risk.

 

[SEALBound]

It's fine to be frustrated with him and Malkin at the moment since they haven't been great. But he's one of the better top 6 wings we've had here in a while so I'm still on the 100% keep him side of things.

He will improve.

 

[Will Hunting]

It's fine to be frustrated with him and Malkin at the moment since they haven't been great. But he's one of the better top 6 wings we've had here in a while so I'm still on the 100% keep him side of things.

He will improve.

Well, he can´t get any worse, it´s not even possible. So he better improves A LOT. Also, calling him a replacement for healthy Zucker is not right. It´s night and day, really. Zucker was forechecking like a demon, was emotional, was physical. What is Smith really? Can´t name a single positive thing about what he really is.

 

[Big Poppa Pump]

He'd be a great 3rd liner if we had any resemblance of a top 6.

 

[Will Hunting]

Meanwhile.. Granlund has 12 points in his last 7 games for the mighty San Jose Sharks.

 

[66-30-33]

If we suck we probably ship him back to Vegas at 50% retained.

 

[Miro4Norris]

Meanwhile.. Granlund has 12 points in his last 7 games for the mighty San Jose Sharks.

Sullivan effect? It was obvious that MG is much better player than how he was doing in PIT despite all the fan hate

Meanwhile last season 102 points player Karlsson is pacing for 62 points

Meanwhile Rickard Rakell has what, 4 points this season?

Meanwhile Jared McCann has been pretty much the best player of the Seattle

 

[HandshakeLine]

His boring ass name should have been a warning.

 

[eXile3]

The entire team outside line 1 is struggling to score. This seems like a classic case of coaching bringing down talent.

 

[Pens1566]

He was really good at the beginning of the season. Looked like a steal.

Now, the incubation period has been reached and he's showing signs of a Penguin-itis infection with a secondary Sully syndrome.

 

[Victor Z]

Meanwhile last season 102 points player Karlsson is pacing for 62 points

Sully or no Sully, EK"s current pace is about what any rational fan expected. He was never a real threat to repeat last year's fluke and even be a point per game here, much less 100 points. Given the record-breaking ineptitude of our Harlem Globetrotters power play, it's pretty amazing that EK is putting up as many points as he is.

 

[SEALBound]

Well, he can´t get any worse, it´s not even possible. So he better improves A LOT. Also, calling him a replacement for healthy Zucker is not right. It´s night and day, really. Zucker was forechecking like a demon, was emotional, was physical. What is Smith really? Can´t name a single positive thing about what he really is.

Smith is still a good player. He's not a bad player or an average player magically playing over his depth. He's a good player who is on a line that is struggling right now. Zucker is an interesting comparison, as I said the same thing about him. Zucker played poorly due to injuries and a lack of proper training/recovery time. Once he got that, he was, as you said, a forechecking demon. He was back to his old self.

And you're right, based on Smith's history, likely can't get much worse but we can bet that he will rebound. He's too good not to. I'm really interested to see what happens when Rakell gets back. If I'm Sully and Co, I take Raks aside and be like "pretend this is a whole new season. Game 1. Fresh start." Then I would stick him with Sid and Jake to see if that can get him going.

His boring ass name should have been a warning.

I yurn for the old days of sexy hockey names. Give me a Zarley Zalapsky or Darius Kasparaitis. Brayden Yager has potential on this front but still a very north American thing.

 

[BrookswasHere44]

Let's just keep blaming every single player that comes here and disappears and not mention the coaching staff

 

[CheckingLineCenter]

This is the biggest indictment on the coaching IMO. We can’t add anyone that’s not an all-time HOFer like EK without their game going to shit. Galchenyuk, Kapanen, Smith, most of Zucker’s tenure, Brassard, etc.

Very few guys have “found it” here compared to 2016.

 

[Beau Knows]

Sullivan effect? It was obvious that MG is much better player than how he was doing in PIT despite all the fan hate

Meanwhile last season 102 points player Karlsson is pacing for 62 points

Meanwhile Rickard Rakell has what, 4 points this season?

Meanwhile Jared McCann has been pretty much the best player of the Seattle

Whenever I think about how this kind of thing has been going on with this team for years, I look at Sid and Geno's numbers over the years and it just reminds me how damn good they are. They've managed to stay productive for their ages, despite the way this team seems to kill the production of anyone else who joins it.

Even EK is starting to look to your average puck moving defensemen lately, instead of a star scorer.