Could Jason Smith be an option if Stuart bolts?

[B.B. 0]

Let's assume Stuart leaves. Who would everyone want to see as our #4 D-man? Could Ericcson handle the minutes or are we better served to acquire another defensemen?

If we decide that Big E is not ready for the minutes, then I think Jason Smith would be a good option. He is a veteran, will not cost much, and could potentially only sign a one-year deal because of his age. He also, and this is the most important thing, is very steady and dependable, and while he may not have the offensive potential of a Stuart, he also may be a bit more reliable in the defensive zone. Also, if he is signed to only a one-year deal, then we will not tie into next season's budget, and it could also open up the possibility of signing a forward to a two or three-year deal (like a Rolston).

Opinions? Thoughts?

[Echolalia 2,961]

I think Kyle Quincey, Derek Meech, Jonathon Erikson, or Jakub Kindl can be our options if Stuart bolts.

[SnipeShow 0]

i wouldn't mind it, but Echolalia has a valid ass point

[YoungGuns1340 1]

GATOR!!!! Im a big Jason Smith fan, but hes fallen off a bit. I definitely wouldnt mind having him to replace Lilja as a #6 PK specialist. What bothers me most is if we have Meech, Quincey, Lebda, Kronwall, Raffi, and Lidstrom as our top 6...that gives us ZERO hitters. And before you go along talking about Kronwall, I mean consistent hitters that can put up 120+ hits a season. Kronwall is good for big hits, but he isnt going to grind away at forwards with hit after hit, and we cant have him focusing on that kind of game with his skill and potential for injury.

Smith can bring you hitting, shotblocking, and PKing. I wouldnt mind seeing him here now or at the deadline. Hes only 35, hes a more inclined fighter and is more physical than Lilja is and....the dude was third in the league in blocked shots with 204. Thats nuts. He also had 6 fights this year. Double what Lilja had.

I think we could probably land him for 1.5. If we're looking to replace a guy like Drake who would give us that drive and motivation to repeat, it would definitely be Smith. Hes a leader through and through. Great character guy.

The only big problem I could see is his skating..

[YoungGuns1340 1]

EDIT - If Holland really wants to add some experience onto our defense - yet fit into our 'style' of play then IMHO he should look into signing UFA Mark Streit.

Who is going to cost probably as much as Stuart, if not more...I dont care if you play half your season at forward, 69 points is great no matter where youre playing.

[WingMachine91 0]

umm no, from living in the phili area and watching the flyers all season long, after game one, smith would be the goat here on these boards. he is just terrible now. all the flyers fans hate him because he is crap. his skills are gone, and cant skate and always gets beat wide, can block shots and is physical but brings nothing more than cheli already does.

PASS

[10 Minute Misconduct 104]

Jason Smith can barely skate.

[YoungGuns1340 1]

umm no, from living in the phili area and watching the flyers all season long, after game one, smith would be the goat here on these boards. he is just terrible now. all the flyers fans hate him because he is crap. his skills are gone, and cant skate and always gets beat wide, can block shots and is physical but brings nothing more than cheli already does.

PASS

Its impossible to compare defenseman in other systems to Detroits. Read up on what Kings fans had to say about Stuart through the first half of the season. Thatll give you a good idea. Detroits system offers support better than any other team in the league. Thats why every Dman that comes here plays better than they did anywhere else.

That said, I do agree that a big problem would be Smith's skating. Just saying that a good 99% of Dmen we sign are going to look better in Detroit than they do anywhere else. Lilja isnt exactly a great skater either, yet hes, again, had his best years here in Detroit.

[Detroit # 1 Fan 2,204]

I've always wanted Smith on Detroit since he started playing in Edmonton. I dont believe it will happen because he's not Hollands type of player, but he'd be a good fit. Paired with Lidstrom or Lebda, his skating wouldnt really matter as long as he plays his physical in your face style. If we signed Smith I imagine he'd play like a more physical, a little slower version of Markov.

As much as I like Smith though, I want Stuart re-signed.

[betterREDthandead 58]

Why, why, why do we keep seeing new threads like this? "Let's get this defenseman, let's get that defenseman." Markov, Smith, Sydor.....we already have 11 possibilities for 6 spots next year! Even if we lose Stuart and Lilja, there's a logjam. Please, no more "let's sign my favorite defenseman" threads.

[daniel1 32]

Why, why, why do we keep seeing new threads like this? "Let's get this defenseman, let's get that defenseman." Markov, Smith, Sydor.....we already have 11 possibilities for 6 spots next year! Even if we lose Stuart and Lilja, there's a logjam. Please, no more "let's sign my favorite defenseman" threads.

Why, why, why do you post if you don't want to participate in the "let's sign my favorite defenseman" threads? If you don't like it, stay the f*** away from it and quit trying the ruin the fun for others who might want to discuss it. Until you win the election for "Supreme LGW Poster" and have the power to mandate what the rest of us can discuss how bout you shut the hell up, take a hike, and go post in a thread that you DO care about? Seriously; I can't stand it when people whine like little girls on here that "we shouldn't talk about this or that" or "let's not get ahead of ourselves"... as if we were the GM or something for s*** sakes. The whole point of the forum is to discuss possibilities and what ifs. That's what makes it fun.

Now, about Gator (Smith). He's competitive as hell and I could see him being a great replacement for Cheli. I got to see him play live quite a bit when he was up in Edmonton and 5 or 6 years ago he was a great top 1 or 2 D man but he's been slowed quite a bit in the last few years due to age and injury. Particularly his footspeed; he can't catch up with speedy guys who go wide on him now and he gets burned down low on the cycle quite a bit. He's still tough as nails and can penalty kill just fine, but I wouldn't want to see him in a top 4 role. He's more than willing to fight and has a serious bad-ass mean streak that can lead to some dumb penalties but he's an intimidation factor too.

Rather than Gator I would like to see a guy like Mark Streit in our top 4 if Stewie goes elsewhere. Streit was great last year with the Habs and has the skill set to thrive here in Detroit. He makes great passes (13-49-62), has a good shot, plays very well positionally, and can even play the power play too. He's decent sized at 6' 196lbs so he should be able to handle the physical play. He made such a low salary last year that a 3 or 4 year deal for 3mil might convince him to leave Montreal and come here. He's knows he's due for a big raise though and I'm not sure Montreal is willing to go beyond 2mil a year on him. He's a Swiss kid as well so I'm sure he would feel comfortable on our very international squad. He only made .6mil last year so a raise to 3mil a year might seem pretty tempting to him. Another nice thing about him is his age; at 30 years old he's no rookie and plays with a lot of poise. He would also be a great bridge for the next 3 or 4 years till Kindl/Pyett/Smith/Ericcson are ready for full time top 4 minutes. He might not have Stewie's physical edge to him but he's an upgrade skill wise as he put up 13 goals and 62 points last year and wasn't even the #1 guy (Markov) on the PP for them. Streit would give us the most talented offensive top 4 in the league hands down, no debate.

[betterREDthandead 58]

Why, why, why do you post if you don't want to participate in the "let's sign my favorite defenseman" threads? If you don't like it, stay the f*** away from it and quit trying the ruin the fun for others who might want to discuss it. Until you win the election for "Supreme LGW Poster" and have the power to mandate what the rest of us can discuss how bout you shut the hell up, take a hike, and go post in a thread that you DO care about? Seriously; I can't stand it when people whine like little girls on here that "we shouldn't talk about this or that" or "let's not get ahead of ourselves"... as if we were the GM or something for s*** sakes. The whole point of the forum is to discuss possibilities and what ifs. That's what makes it fun.

If people don't want their opinions disagreed with, they shouldn't post them.

[CopenhagenWing 38]

....and have the power to mandate what the rest of us can discuss...

To a certain extent, he does.

[SnipeShow 0]

bRtd, you didn't even go against his opinion you just shot the thread down... gutless move

Edited June 17, 2008 by SnipeShow

[Heaton 1]

Rather than Gator I would like to see a guy like Mark Streit in our top 4 if Stewie goes elsewhere. Streit was great last year with the Habs and has the skill set to thrive here in Detroit. He makes great passes (13-49-62), has a good shot, plays very well positionally, and can even play the power play too. He's decent sized at 6' 196lbs so he should be able to handle the physical play.

I don't think Jason Smith is the answer since he isn't capable of playing the minutes Stuart was but I don't think you watched Mark Streit that much last year. Streit is strictly a PP specialist... we have 3 of those already. Streit played on the PK, but as a forward. Streit may work in our system but we need a guy like Stuart who has offensive flair but strength is on defense.

If we lose both Stuart and Lilja I don't think we want to risk having Lidstrom and Chelios be our top guys minute wise for the PK all season long. Even if we re-sign Lilja I don't want Chelios to be in the top 3.

[betterREDthandead 58]

bRtd, you didn't even go against his opinion you just shot the thread down... gutless move

Once again:

If I wanted to "shoot the thread down", believe me, you'd never see it again. The OP stated his opinion that we need another defenseman.....my opinion is that such thinking and such threads are a waste of time, and I said so, along with my reasons. So it's pretty funny to get angry at me for "shooting down" the thread and at the same time tell me what I should and should not say.

[Dabura 12,232]

my opinion is that such thinking and such threads are a waste of time

I think everyone's clear on that now, thanks.

As for Smith -- no. His skating is a big issue, injuries are taking their toll, and he's never played a terribly smart game.

Let it be known, though, that if Stuart doesn't re-sign, management will need to bring someone in to replace him, as none of the guys that make up this "logjam" people keep referring to are ready for top-4 minutes in the big league.

[norrisnick 1]

I think everyone's clear on that now, thanks.

As for Smith -- no. His skating is a big issue, injuries are taking their toll, and he's never played a terribly smart game.

Let it be known, though, that if Stuart doesn't re-sign, management will need to bring someone in to replace him, as none of the guys that make up this "logjam" people keep referring to are ready for top-4 minutes in the big league.

I think Meech could play alongside Kronwall fairly effectively. He's the safest puck-mover we have below the top 3, great skater, positionally sound, etc...

Plus when we had our rash of injuries and he was playing 20-25+ minutes was when he was at his best (unlike Lebda and Lilly who floundered badly). He was logging big minutes, getting involved in every aspect of the game, and just looked comfortable. Very much unlike the minor stints of sub-10 minute games he was getting every other week before then.

In juniors he was Dion Phaneuf's partner at Red Deer as well as a gold-winning venture at the World Juniors. He was a safe partner for a risk-taking defenseman like Dion and could be for Kronwall as well.

[betterREDthandead 58]

I think everyone's clear on that now, thanks.

As for Smith -- no. His skating is a big issue, injuries are taking their toll, and he's never played a terribly smart game.

Let it be known, though, that if Stuart doesn't re-sign, management will need to bring someone in to replace him, as none of the guys that make up this "logjam" people keep referring to are ready for top-4 minutes in the big league.

And they never will be ready if they never get that chance. Sooner or later, Ericsson, Meech, and/or Quincey are gonna have to be given their shot. I'm more than willing to use the regular season as an experimentation ground for these guys to pair up with, say, Kronwall, and see how they do. For those three, it's getting to be put up or shut up time because letting them rot in the press box as the seventh and eighth defenseman is a disservice to them and to the team, and keeping them in GR is going to block the development of the lower end of the pipeline - Kindl, Smith, etc.

If we're going to keep on signing new top-four defensemen and keep on bringing Chelios back (as we're about to do) and still have Lebda (who's signed for another two seasons) then what's the point of bringing guys through the pipeline and patiently developing them if they get to the threshold and we decide they're never ready? It's a waste of money to spend on a top-four defenseman when we now have an entire regular season to see what these guys can do.

[Dabura 12,232]

I think Meech has great career potential. That said, I'd like to see him garner more experience in the NHL -- namely, on the third pairing -- before stepping into that #4 spot.

But I wouldn't flip out if he played with Nik this year.

[Dabura 12,232]

And they never will be ready if they never get that chance.

I'm all for "giving them a shot," but to me, that means easing them in -- i.e., not just throwing them into the top-4 mix because "Hey, why not!"

[norrisnick 1]

I'm all for "giving them a shot," but to me, that means easing them in -- i.e., not just throwing them into the top-4 mix because "Hey, why not!"

It's the regular season, not the playoffs. And it's not like we're giving a kid #1 minutes and asking him to carry the team. He's still going to have 3 guys ahead of him.

Take the training wheels off and give him a shove. What's the worst that could happen?

[Dabura 12,232]

I should have been clearer, then: I'm looking ahead to the postseason. So, management will need to bring someone in by the trade deadline. I'm fine with experiments in the regular season. Ideally, I'd like to see that spot solidified as quickly as possible, but who knows how it'll play out.

[betterREDthandead 58]

I'm all for "giving them a shot," but to me, that means easing them in -- i.e., not just throwing them into the top-4 mix because "Hey, why not!"

I think putting them in no-pressure games against Columbus in November is easing them in just fine. And Meech, especially.....he's 24, he's played 3 full seasons in GR and 36 games with the Wings. He's been eased through. Time to see if he can handle those minutes every night, on the PK, etc. Ericsson and Quincey aren't far behind.

Helm proved he can handle a regular role in the biggest pressure-cooker of them all....I don't think Meech and them are going to be overtaxed.

[Dabura 12,232]

Well, like I said, I'm cool with regular season experiments. But for what it's worth, Helm playing on the fourth line in the playoffs and Meech playing on the second D pairing in the playoffs are two pretty different things. But again, that's the postseason -- regular season's fair game for tinkering.