We need to talk about Brendan Smith (Update: I jinxed him hard)

[TheMule93]

Hopefully he keeps it up. But we've seen Smith have hot streaks before

We have? When?

 

[Run the Jewels]

We have? When?

At Wisconsin!

 

[Winger98]

FWIW, Kronwall didn't establish himself in the NHL until age 26, Ericsson until age 26, Franzen was a 4th liner until age 28 when he randomly out of nowhere scored like 20 goals in 20 games or whatever, Abdelkader is working on his 2nd straight 20 goal/40 point season after somewhat breaking out at age 27 last year, Filppula was a ~40 point guy until age 27 when he put up 66 points, etc.

So, not like it would really be all that unprecedented around here.

Kronwall also had a lockout and a freak broken leg back up his arrival, while Ericsson was a converted forward who was doing all of his converting once he got here. Bit of a special case that.

I don't like lumping defencemen and forwards together in these conversations, though. Everyone knows that they develop differently, but what we always hear is that it takes longer for D. But I've long wondered if they don't plateau sooner without a constant challenge. We've had this low and slow development plan for quite awhile now, and how many D have benefited from it? Serious question, but have any really benefited from it? Maybe Ericsson, but again, a bit of a special case with his converting from forward. I have nothing to base this on, but I think it's easier for forwards to continue growing their games and finding new niches than it is for D. It's why we see a guy like Abdelkader find a niche on a scoring line and (hopefully) becoming a 15-20 goal scorer.

I don't mind at all if Smith really is turning the corner and becoming the player we thought he could be, though.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Kronwall also had a lockout and a freak broken leg back up his arrival, while Ericsson was a converted forward who was doing all of his converting once he got here. Bit of a special case that.

I don't like lumping defencemen and forwards together in these conversations, though. Everyone knows that they develop differently, but what we always hear is that it takes longer for D. But I've long wondered if they don't plateau sooner without a constant challenge. We've had this low and slow development plan for quite awhile now, and how many D have benefited from it? Serious question, but have any really benefited from it? Maybe Ericsson, but again, a bit of a special case with his converting from forward. I have nothing to base this on, but I think it's easier for forwards to continue growing their games and finding new niches than it is for D. It's why we see a guy like Abdelkader find a niche on a scoring line and (hopefully) becoming a 15-20 goal scorer.

I don't mind at all if Smith really is turning the corner and becoming the player we thought he could be, though.

Just as an FYI, Smith converted from forward at 17, Ericsson at 18...

Smith has played well for a little while now, nice to see the points finally coming. Without seeing PP time though we cannot expect tons of points, that is where NHL D-man do the bulk of your damage. But we are certainly seeing the version of Smith we have seen in the playoffs a lot more this season. It is a good thing.

Curious decisions ahead with the return of Quincey. I am inclined to get Ericsson and Kronwall some rest. I think both are carrying knocks.

 

[Winger98]

Just as an FYI, Smith converted from forward at 17, Ericsson at 18...

Smith has played well for a little while now, nice to see the points finally coming. Without seeing PP time though we cannot expect tons of points, that is where NHL D-man do the bulk of your damage. But we are certainly seeing the version of Smith we have seen in the playoffs a lot more this season. It is a good thing.

Curious decisions ahead with the return of Quincey. I am inclined to get Ericsson and Kronwall some rest. I think both are carrying knocks.

Ericsson did not make the fulltime switch to D until he came to GR when he was 22/23. The big gripe about his staying in Sweden was that teams over there refused to make a concerted effort at making the change.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

Is smith on pace for his best season?

 

[Cyborg Yzerberg]

I was losing confidence in the guy when he still wasn't performing in October and November. But over the summer, I was totally saying this guy would benefit most from Babcock being gone.

 

[Bench]

Curious decisions ahead with the return of Quincey. I am inclined to get Ericsson and Kronwall some rest. I think both are carrying knocks.

It will be interesting to see what happens. Marchenko is getting some good ice lately, too.

Here's the deal with our defense... I feel like we're stuck with them. Given that we're probably not going to see anything but, at best, a veteran rental added by the deadline, I think the answer to the blueline's offensive woes need to come internally. And given that, Smith, warts and all, is the best possibility at a partial solution. If he can continue to flex offensive swagger, it goes a long, long way to helping this team.

Is smith on pace for his best season?

He is, barely. Only because of this huge burst, though. His best season is 19 points. He's got half the season to get another 10 points. Depends if he goes back to the 3 points in 23 games pace or not.

He's been scoring like Karlsson over the last 8 games, so we can assume that slows down significantly.

 

[SpookyTsuki]

It will be interesting to see what happens. Marchenko is getting some good ice lately, too.

Here's the deal with our defense... I feel like we're stuck with them. Given that we're probably not going to see anything but, at best, a veteran rental added by the deadline, I think the answer to the blueline's offensive woes need to come internally. And given that, Smith, warts and all, is the best possibility at a partial solution. If he can continue to flex offensive swagger, it goes a long, long way to helping this team.



He is, barely. Only because of this huge burst, though. His best season is 19 points. He's got half the season to get another 10 points. Depends if he goes back to the 3 points in 23 games pace or not.

He's been scoring like Karlsson over the last 8 games, so we can assume that slows down significantly.

Yeah best season! Blashill

 

[Henkka]

Is smith on pace for his best season?

Determine what's the best?

On points, yeah.

But with cardinal mistakes and continuously bad plays he is also team leader.

Perfect trade bait. Looks better on paper than on the ice.

 

[lidstromiscool]

He is what he is at this point, great physical tools and no hockey sense

 

[Martinez]

What this means is kindl is gone

 

[HadVokounOnFortSt]

Just want him to keep it up!

 

[WingedWheel1987]

If you look at the top 20 defenseman in points, you will see that only Detroit defenseman take 79 years to become productive NHL defenseman.

The vast majority of the leagues best defenseman were productive players by their second full NHL season and most of them were drafted in the second round or later.

 

[newfy]

Hes obviously going to cool down from his current pace but he was playing well for a while before the points started coming. Lots of people said it but Smith was likely the guy to benefit most from Blashill coaching. He fits Blashills system better, still plays mean out there and is finally producing. He looks kinda like the Smith that got called up from GR before Babcock neutered him.

With the new NHL stat page I cant find even strength scoring but I wouldnt mind seeing how his even strength scoring measures up with some other dmen in the league

 

[obey86]

Hes obviously going to cool down from his current pace but he was playing well for a while before the points started coming. Lots of people said it but Smith was likely the guy to benefit most from Blashill coaching. He fits Blashills system better, still plays mean out there and is finally producing. He looks kinda like the Smith that got called up from GR before Babcock neutered him.

With the new NHL stat page I cant find even strength scoring but I wouldnt mind seeing how his even strength scoring measures up with some other dmen in the league

Among all defensemen in the league who have played 300+ minutes (174 total) Brendan Smith is 66th in 5v5 points per 60 minutes @ 0.79.

Leaving out Quincey (who has only played 7 games) Smith is 2nd among Wings defensemen in 5v5 points per 60 minutes (behind Dekeyser). Kronwall is last on the team.

 

[TheRatPoisoner]

Hes obviously going to cool down from his current pace but he was playing well for a while before the points started coming. Lots of people said it but Smith was likely the guy to benefit most from Blashill coaching. He fits Blashills system better, still plays mean out there and is finally producing. He looks kinda like the Smith that got called up from GR before Babcock neutered him.

With the new NHL stat page I cant find even strength scoring but I wouldnt mind seeing how his even strength scoring measures up with some other dmen in the league

He has 9 points even strength. Ranked 66th tied for 55th.

Among red wing D men, he's tied with DDK for even strength points.

 

[newfy]

Among all defensemen in the league who have played 300+ minutes (174 total) Brendan Smith is 66th in 5v5 points per 60 minutes @ 0.79.

Leaving out Quincey (who has only played 7 games) Smith is 2nd among Wings defensemen in 5v5 points per 60 minutes (behind Dekeyser). Kronwall is last on the team.

Where did you find that? I feel like I'm looking over something that should be blatantly obvious to me

 

[J15]

Determine what's the best?

On points, yeah.

But with cardinal mistakes and continuously bad plays he is also team leader.

Perfect trade bait. Looks better on paper than on the ice.

Because NHL GMs/pro scouts take a quick peak at the nhl.com stats page to evaluate players.

 

[ap3x]

Considering his current offensive qualities, I won't mind seeing him on the PP.

 

[TheRatPoisoner]

Where did you find that? I feel like I'm looking over something that should be blatantly obvious to me

here:

http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/ratings.php?db=201516&sit=5v5&type=individual&teamid=0&pos=defense&minutes=300&disp=1&sort=PCT&sortdir=DESC

Also here:

http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?reportType=season&report=points&season=20152016&gameType=2&sort=evPoints&aggregate=1&pos=D

 

[HockeyinHD]

Smith is incredibly unlikely to ever become a trustworthy top 4 dman. He also appears to be better than a wholly unusable pile of crap the team needs to waive ASAP.

The only thing that really matters is how that encourages or disappoints you. IMO, a team needs 5-6 dmen too, so if Smith can do that and bring a little offense in the bargain, cool. I'm not including him in any long term plans for the significant part of the blueline.

 

[14ari13]

If you look at the top 20 defenseman in points, you will see that only Detroit defenseman take 79 years to become productive NHL defenseman.

The vast majority of the leagues best defenseman were productive players by their second full NHL season and most of them were drafted in the second round or later.

This is a very good point. How come other team find and develop Dmen but we can't.

Hes obviously going to cool down from his current pace but he was playing well for a while before the points started coming. Lots of people said it but Smith was likely the guy to benefit most from Blashill coaching. He fits Blashills system better, still plays mean out there and is finally producing. He looks kinda like the Smith that got called up from GR before Babcock neutered him.

With the new NHL stat page I cant find even strength scoring but I wouldnt mind seeing how his even strength scoring measures up with some other dmen in the league

And this. Some players benefit a lot because of Blashill.

 

[BinCookin]

This is a very good point. How come other team find and develop Dmen but we can't.

Not True. Not that good a point actually.

V. Hedman is not yet a great D man.
But he is improving. It takes years and years for most D men.

Most are not good 1-2 years in.

 

[Frk It]

Not True. Not that good a point actually.

V. Hedman is not yet a great D man.
But he is improving. It takes years and years for most D men.

Most are not good 1-2 years in.

Hedman put up 55 pts at 23 years old, dude. He's legit. Better than anything we have by a good margin.