So that's who we have to thank god Smith's contract!
Still, I'll miss him making our goalies better but it hasn't seemed to be working to the extend it used to. It was to the point I thought he had already left.
That happened largely when they expanded his role. He was initially the goalie coach and then he was hired as a "Director of Prospect Development" which I think was not the best move. He still helped out some of our goalies, but I think Smith is just not too coachable (unless, apparently, you've worked with him since he was 12). You can only coach a player so much, and it appears that Smith's inconsistency is not easy to "coach out" of him.
I would love to see Domingue get some tips and coaching from Burke; I just don't think Elkin cares as much about Domingue as he does about Smith or our other two goaltenders that attended his school at some point. I truly hope Elkin is more "present" this season than he apparently was last season (due to Smith's injury).
I still wonder why Schwab is the prospect goaltending coach and Elkin the NHL goaltending coach. From an organizational standpoint, it would make more sense to reverse that (since Elkin is better at developing talent than maintaining it). Of course I realize this is a Smitty thing, just confusing...