Revisiting the Smid trade

[ChaoticOrange]

I know at the time a lot of us HATED that trade, myself included, however...

Brossoit has been tearing up the ECHL (24-9, .924 SV%, 6 SO with the Condors) and Horak has been excellent for the Barons (52 games, 20g-26a-46pts +13) and Smid has been, by most accounts, not very good in Calgary.

Obviously if neither Brossoit or Horak become regular NHLers this is still a resounding loss, but do you feel any better about this deal?

Click to read more...

 

[ManofSteel55]

Seeing how Marincin more than filled Smid's role on this team, I'm not overly upset about it. He really had lost his spot this season with poor play. I don't like the deal much because I still think we could have done better, but a top notch goalie prospect is nothing to shake our heads about.

 

[Paralyzer008]

Meh, I've moved on, but still this trade isn't doing as any favors really.

Horak is still a tweener who can't make a non playoff Calgary or Edmonton full time. Brossoit tearing up the ECHL is not really indicative of anything at this point. Still thought we could move Smid in a package for a better D-man but we traded for futures instead. Plus our D still sucks.

 

[tiger_80]

This team could still use a young No.4 d-man like Smid, but what's done is done. Horak could be an ok 3rd liner one day, I guess. And Brossoit is a wild card. Time will tell.

 

[Tarus]

ECHL goaltender that may never play a game in the NHL, and an AHL tweener that probably won't ever stick in the NHL very long, all for an actual NHL defenseman.

I would say it's too early to revisit the trade, but it's probable the result will be the same in 5 years.

Still a terrible trade.

 

[ohheyhemsky]

ECHL goaltender that may never play a game in the NHL, and an AHL tweener that probably won't ever stick in the NHL very long, all for an actual NHL defenseman.

I would say it's too early to revisit the trade, but it's probable the result will be the same in 5 years.

Still a terrible trade.

Moved an expensive, faultering D-man for two promising prospects.

I have no idea why you're sitting in the half glass empty end of the court, but you really don't need to.

 

[Magnum23]

I never hated the smid deal. After 6 years we knew what his ceiling is and to be capped for 3 more years at 3 million would of handicapped our d. On top of that we would of never given marincin n klefbom a chance to develop in the nhl this season if smid was still here.

 

[Canovin]

I thought Horak played pretty well during his call up. Not sure what's the complaint there.

 

[Spawn]

I know at the time a lot of us HATED that trade, myself included, however...

Brossoit has been tearing up the ECHL (24-9, .924 SV%, 6 SO with the Condors) and Horak has been excellent for the Barons (52 games, 20g-26a-46pts +13) and Smid has been, by most accounts, not very good in Calgary.

Obviously if neither Brossoit or Horak become regular NHLers this is still a resounding loss, but do you feel any better about this deal?

Oiler fans keep saying this. But it seems to me that Flames fans and management are very happy with Smid. Seems like a bunch of Oiler fans (and bloggers) just trying to justify the trade.

As for Brossoit... meh. Maybe it he does something at the AHL level I will start to get excited. His 10 game stretch was certainly nothing worth remembering. Olivier Roy who we gave up in the deal has elite ECHL numbers too. There is just as much a chance he'll work out as Brossoit will.

It was an awful trade at the time and still is.

 

[Burnt Biscuits]

ECHL goaltender that may never play a game in the NHL, and an AHL tweener that probably won't ever stick in the NHL very long, all for an actual NHL defenseman.

I would say it's too early to revisit the trade, but it's probable the result will be the same in 5 years.

Still a terrible trade.

I don't know why you'd discount a goaltender for putting up good numbers in the ECHL a lot of good goalies have spent some time there. Horak I like, but he is just solid depth IMO, nothing really special about him, Lander is the guy driving the bus in OKC and Horak has the privilege of riding shotgun.

I was one of the biggest Smid haters on the board and refused to acknowledge him as a quality D, just as I finally got onboard about a year and half later everyone jumped off.

Goes to show you regardless of any intangibles or crazy shot blocking statistics, if you can't give and receive a pass you're not a quality defenseman in the NHL.

 

[ohheyhemsky]

Oiler fans keep saying this. But it seems to me that Flames fans and management are very happy with Smid. Seems like a bunch of Oiler fans (and bloggers) just trying to justify the trade.

As for Brossoit... meh. Maybe it he does something at the AHL level I will start to get excited. His 10 game stretch was certainly nothing worth remembering. Olivier Roy who we gave up in the deal has elite ECHL numbers too. There is just as much a chance he'll work out as Brossoit will.

It was an awful trade at the time and still is.

Happy with him in a lesser role, after failing to play higher competition with a heavy paycheque for his new place.

It's not a justification, as we all love Smid, but the fact of the matter still holds true: He's not the same Smid we used to know, he's dwindling.

 

[Petes2424]

Looking back, they cut bait. You would've hoped they could've received something more helpful but no reason to really dwell on it. I'm more interested in the seemingly low return they're going to get for Gagner. We all know the guy is better than he played this year and he's probably going to excel wherever he ends up. I still contend they need to get a guy in return who has just as much upside but may have struggled early in his career so far. There's a couple D from NJ I'd look at, a C from the Preds and a couple young up and comers from Detroit. Although the latter looks like a pipe dream at this point. There's always Washington too.

 

[Tarus]

Moved an expensive, faultering D-man for two promising prospects.

I have no idea why you're sitting in the half glass empty end of the court, but you really don't need to.

If money really was any issue on an entire defense core of faltering defensemen, then they should have moved Ference; or better yet, not have signed him at all.

Neither of the prospects are promising either, they have a low chance of impacting the NHL and exacerbate a problem of too many prospects, not enough NHL players.

I don't know why you'd discount a goaltender for putting up good numbers in the ECHL a lot of good goalies have spent some time there. Horak I like, but he is just solid depth IMO, nothing really special about him, Lander is the guy driving the bus in OKC and Horak has the privilege of riding shotgun.

I was one of the biggest Smid haters on the board and refused to acknowledge him as a quality D, just as I finally got onboard about a year and half later everyone jumped off.

Goes to show you regardless of any intangibles or crazy shot blocking statistics, if you can't give and receive a pass you're not a quality defenseman in the NHL.

When it comes to goaltenders, best to be skeptical. Few jobs, stiff competition, very unlikely he makes a dent.

As for Smid, it actually never fails to amaze me that people are so worried about a defenseman's puck moving ability on a team utterly incapable of winning puck battles, the defensemen are rarely even required to even make or receive passes on a team that spends the majority of it's time just trying to get the puck from their opponents.

Numerous defensemen with little ability to play with the puck provide beneficial minutes for hockey teams of all levels of competitiveness filling a niche role of defensive specialist, and Smid was the closest thing the Oilers had to a competent and effective one.

 

[Aceboogie]

Smid regressed to a bottom pairing guy, and was making 3.5 million doing so. If you want a competitive team, you cant have that. At the time of the trade, wed had Ference and Smid, both making 3+ million, both as bottom pairing LHD. Ference cant be trade (NMC), so Smid is a logical choice.

I think the biggest mistake was not hanging on to Smid to the TDL in order to get more games from him. But in the end, well have to use the money to sign a top 4 D.

Marincin and Klefbom stepped up to and performed better than him. At the time of trade both were long shots, so them developing so good is a bit of luck. Either way, I dont think the Smid trade really hurt us because both Marincin/Klefbom surpassed him

I also think MacT had a larger trade in the works, but something fell through. The trade allowed to them to make a stop gap signing in Bryz to try and right the ship

As for the players returned, I have faith in Horak. He is a PPG player in the AHL since being moved to the wing, I think hell turn out to be a good 3LW. Brossiot is also doing very good in the ECHL

Im not sure what they would have gotten for Smid at the TDL, but I dont think its more than what the Oilers got. Here is what massive Flamers homer Kent Wilson said:

Incredbily, Smid might be the worse player of the twi. The erstwhile Oiler seems to have gathered himself a lot of fans during his short time here in Calgary, but I'm not one of them. Smid is fearless, can seem to absorb a lot of pain and isn't afraid to mix it up here and there, but his weaknesses easily overwhelm his strengths. Aside from O'Brien, Smid is the slowest defender on the Flames blueline. He doesn't have any offensive upside and isn't very good at moving the puck. If something goes wrong with Smid on the ice - a bad bounce, a poor decision - he can't recover.

As a result, Smid has the worst possession rate of the Flames regular defenders this year. In addition, his contract stretches for another three seasons at an average of $3.6M per year. My guess is he's a replacement level defender (at best) by the time his deal terminates in 2016-17, a year in which he'll be owed $4M in salary.

Goaltending prospects being equal, we traded an overpaid, bottom pairing D for a bargain price potential 3rd line winger. Right now the trade is a loss, but a very minor one. If they can use the cap space efficiently (not overpaying for Bolland), MacT can win this trade

 

[Aerchon]

Its so funny how stuff like this gets revisited.

Even funnier when what people "hear" can differ so much.

Statistically Smid has not ripped it up for the flames but I have "heard" he has played very well for them and really fits in well. Hard working experienced D-man that can clear the net and win battles down low.

I am a huge Marincin fan but do not think he replaces Smids skill set. I think Klefbom may eventually but its too early to say.

Do we miss him. Not overly. But I still say that trade is bunk and until we get a true NHLer from it, that's the way it will stay. Declining or not Smid's had more value than what we got.

 

[T-Funk]

From an asset standpoint, it was dumb. I do not think it affected our team one way or the other, though

 

[nexttothemoon]

I liked the trade at the time. Good move by MacT.

 

[McDoused]

I've always been a big fan of LB and Klefbom/Marincin had made him expendable.

If this is the worst trade MacT has made, I'm okay going forward.

 

[nexttothemoon]

I've always been a big fan of LB and Klefbom/Marincin had made him expendable.

If this is the worst trade MacT has made, I'm okay going forward.

It was a good trade though... he's made many poor moves but that wasn't one of them.

 

[Hockey Buddha]

Too early to tell, but looks promising

Horak still looks like an interesting player, although I think Brossoit is clearly the player that the Oilers were more keenly after in the deal. At the time of the deal, MacTavish was Hell bent on shoring up the club's goaltending depth in the system. Since the deal, I'm fairly convinced that Brossoit is on the right trajectory. He turned his game around after becoming Oiler's property, and hasn't looked back at all. As for Smid, I always liked him, particular his character, but you can't look back with young players like Klefbom and Marincin in the mix and Nurse in the wings. Marincin already looks better than Smid, and Klefbom is showing signs of surpassing Marincin. There simply wasn't room to keep Smid at his salary.
Brossoit is looking like a great prospect and has helped to elevate Bunz's game--according to Bunz--since his arrival, which adds some collateral goodness as well. I hope that they wind up in the AHL together next season at some point. Could be a solid tandem. Bunz remains a player that I still have reasonable hopes for, but what I like most about Brossoit is that he performs so well under pressure; it makes me think that he can become an NHL starter. He competes hard, and as the stakes go up, he gets even better. Olivier Roy, who went the other way in the deal, seemed to collapse under pressure (at least that's my impression after the WJ tournament). While most of the technical stuff is teachable, a lack of mental toughness in big games is harder to teach to a goaltender.

I think that this deal is hard to get a real read on yet, and could still turn south. I think that this deal is still very much a "wait for it" one. I think that we'll be very happy with Brossoit in years to come, and Horak could still be a player as well.

 

[Oilers10]

Smid was so over rated and never brought any ability for offense or to make great outlet passes. THe fact that MacT got rid of him was a win. Whatever the prospects become is a bonus

 

[Mr Positive]

We saved a ton of cap space for the next 3 years when we will need it, and got couple of good players out of it too.

It was a win for us, no doubt. It was good asset management.

Klesla was waived. There is just no market for players like Smid.

 

[Beerfish]

Smid with the oilers, good hear and soul guy who deserves praise. Smidd 21.4 seconds after being dealt. A horrible human with no skills, who was past it, that sucked the life out of the team.

NHL player for their version of Lander and Olivier Roy essentially. Hey MacT didn't like Smid and wanted to get rid of him, fine but when your alt plan includes the likes of Larssen, Potter, Fraser it ain't so good.

 

[fuswald]

Compared to what we got for Hemsky we made out like bandits.

 

[KlimasLoveChild]

Meh...not a big loss. They had three 5/6 dmen making 3+mil per year which just doesn't work. Ference wasn't going anywhere....schultz and smid see ya... Tambo signed him to a stupid contract. If anyone is to blame it is that tard. The cap relief may come in handy and he just isn't that good. I'm not sure what the problem is other then the emotional attachment to the lovable loser.

The fact this is even brought up again is a head shaker. What's next another Rieder/Kessy rehash...