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RedWang

Brendan Smith

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Well, ive personally never been a fan of him, but some are. He at times shows flashes of promise. But more often than not just ends up blowing it in nearly every defensive aspect. Some say he needs more time before we call for his head, some want him gone altogether. IMHO if he was gonna be worth a damn it'd be more obvious by now (ex. Danny DeKeyser)

As of now, where does everyone stand on this situation?

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This is kinda mean but I have to admit...When I watch games I don't ever recall asking a player if they were indeed an actual idiot, at least not as repetitively as I do with Smith. He just makes way too many bone head plays, he has the skill set but...

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Hes shown flashes offensively on what could make him a very good dman. Yes his defensive play is abysmal currently. Im not ready to throw in the towel just yet tho, they need to give him a big amount of games to get a rhythm going. Not scratch him the first sign of trouble for 7th defensemen in Lashoff. People need to remember he started to play better during the playoffs last season, and all while still playing with quincey. Yes they were both -3 which is not that great, but I blame Babcock if anyone continuously putting Smith with him, try something new babs please. Give him that PP spot that samuelsson wastes, if it doesnt work out it wont be like we took rafalski off the point or anything.

Oh and this applies for Tatar as well Babcock! Cannot give him one game then go hmm he didnt score 3 goals better put back samuelsson!

Edited by Bryguy

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I still think our best bet is to make him a forward.

Package a forward and whatever For a good D man and move Smith upfront ah la Brett Burns.

A couple years down the road you've got Smith Andy Mantha or Smith Helm Mantha

He's got the tools and the skills and enough speed, he's just mis- cast as a defenseman.

Edited by T.Low

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http://www.freep.com/article/20131020/SPORTS05/310200095/Brendan-Smith-has-rough-night-returning-Wings-lineup

Earlier in the day, Babcock explained his reasoning behind pulling Smith, who had a minus-4 rating when he disappeared from the lineup four games prior, a damning stat Smith said wasn't his fault as the goals he'd been on against weren't on him.

"The question I ask all the time," Babcock said, "is who has the puck when you're done with the puck. When it's the other team all the time, pretty soon you're not playing. So, erratic play with the puck. I was looking for something different."

Babs nailed it. Smith is erratic.

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Guest Crymson

Smith is thus far a disaster. In addition to his petulant attitude, he makes very few good plays to go along with his persistent errors. As I've said before, I believe his mistakes are only a matter of nerves; but the end result is the same anyway. Hopefully he'll get better, but at this stage Lashoff is his superior by a wide margin.

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Ericsson and Kindl were both like that. We knew that they had potential, but it was hard to see beyond flashes here and there.

I'm not ready to punt on Smith yet. I also don't want him playing big minutes yet. Hopefully he'll have a good season in the not-too-distant future and come around.

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Because he's been in the Wings' system for several years, and has been playing in some capacity with the actual Detroit Red Wings team since 2011, its easy to forget that as of today, October 20, 2013, Smith has only 53 games of NHL experience under his belt (67 if you want to include playoffs). That isn't a whole lot of experience in the NHL, especially when its spread out over a call-up a few years back, a lock-out shortened season last year, and the first handful of game of this season. Ericsson was even more frustrating when he was starting his career off. In fact, he was the LGW whipping boy up until last year when things finally clicked for him. Kindl has been repeatedly thrown under the bus up until late last year as well, and he's been playing for the Wings either through call-ups or on a permanent roster spot since the 2009-2010 season. If 75-95% of LGW had their way, both of these players would have been shipped out years ago for a bag of pucks. Thankfully Holland held onto them and gave them time to properly develop and learn the details of the game. They are both crucial components of our D-core today.

Defensemen generally take a few years to develop, and unlike Ericsson and Kindl, Smith doesn't have the benefit of having Lidstrom, Rafalski, and Stuart nearby to clean up his mistakes and console him. In fact, aside from Kronwall, our entire defense is pretty darn young. Smith needs time to mature and figure out how to incorporate his strengths into this game without being a liability. That is going to take more than 67 games in the NHL. In fact, based on the general trajectory of defensive development and the environment that Smith is in, don't count on it clicking for him for at least another year. For some of you who love complaining this should come as great news. But when it does finally click for Smith, I think he has the potential to be a top 3 offensive defensman and power-play specialist ala Rafalski.

And just a side note; Smith was a first round draft pick, which by Red Wings' standards is quite rare and valuable. With the league as competitive as it is, and with a salary-cap firmly in place, it would behoove any team to do whatever they can and be as patient as possible to see that first round pick develop into their full potential; not to trade them away at the first sign of adversity. Fortunately it seems like the WIngs' front office is well aware of this.

PS in the 67 games that Smith has played in, he's amassed 20 points and is -6. Those are not bad numbers.

Edited by Echolalia

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Smith is the new Ericsson.

People had overly high expectations of him when he came into the league. Last playoffs he played more minutes than he probably should have given his experience level (more minutes per game than all D men except Ericsson and Kronner), and it showed at times. Now some people have decided he absolutely sucks and only see the plays that reinforce their perception of him. He already looks better than Kindl did after 60 some games. And Kindl and E got to develop behind a very solid blueline. Smith is on one that's very inexperienced.

Ericsson at one time was considered about the worst defenseman in the NHL here. Look where he is now. He didn't make some unprecedented transformation. He was never as bad as people said he was, and he improved with experience.

Hopefully Smith will do the same. As Babcock said, he needs to keep it simple. Then hopefully he will develop confidence and grow his game.

EDIT: Just read Echolalia's post and realized I'm saying basically the same thing. So what he said. :D

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I'm not giving up on him. Apparently some of you forgot what Ericsson was like his first few years.

I will NEVER forget how derptastic Big Rig was. EVER. :lol:

I am REALLY torn on Turd Ferguson. On the one hand, I am realistic in understanding that D men take longer to mature and develop their hockey sense. He is young, hasn't played a full season, and is just in the beginning of his development. We're going to have some MAJOR growing pains, y'all.

On the other hand, he is MUCH harder for me to watch than Big Rig was. I am exasperated by him at least 27 times a game.* And at the risk of sounding needlessly harsh about someone I don't know personally, he seems like an all around moron. Can you imagine Kronner or even Rig ever deflecting blame for being scratched? He gives off the "young, dumb, and full of cum" vibe to me, which for someone his age is totally acceptable (but still douchey), but when it interferes with the job he is being *paid* to do, it's a problem. Yes, he needs to mature and improve. If he doesn't pull his head out of his ass and see WHY he has to mature and improve instead of acting clueless to his faults, then he never WILL improve. That's my concern.

*this may be an exaggeration

Edited by BottleOfSmoke

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What doesn't help Smith is that he is unwilling or unable to play "his" game. When we drafted him, there were 3 things that he was known for

1) Big hits. Well, they stopped after he got suspended a couple of preseasons ago

2) Fighting. Well, that stopped after Babs publically chewed him out for dropping the gloves and leaving them a defenceman short.

3) Offence. Well, he gets no PP time as he's stuck behind Kronwall, Alfie, Kindl and the inexplicalble Sammy.

Whilst watching him handle the puck in his own zone like its a hand grenade is unbearably painful, I refuse to believe that he lacks the skill to be an NHL defenceman - as other posters have pointed out I believe the problem is between his ears. Right now he's *thinking* when the puck is near him, but an NHL defenceman doesn't have time to think, it all has to be instinctive. Ericsson was exactly the same up until 18 months ago - you could almost see the gears whirring in his brain as he tried to figure out what he was supposed to do next. Thankfully, it eventually clicked and he is rock solid these days.

It also doesn't help Smith that he's stuck with Quincey who is equally fond of bobbling the puck and/or passing it his skates.

Time, a spot on the 2nd PP unit, and a solid veteran D-man alongside him are what Smith needs, as hard as the growing pains may be.

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I think Smith deserves more time to prove himself, but I will admit being disappointed in his development to this point. He just seems very uncomfortable in his own zone and gets flustered by any semblance of forechecking. The offensive side of his game hasn't really taken off yet either, which was his strong suit as a prospect.

The Wings have had some late-blooming d-men recently (Ericsson, Kindl) that really struggled earlier in their careers too and have turned themselves into reliable players. I also think Smith is getting hurt by spending most of his time on a pairing with Kyle Quincey. Seems like Smith and DeKeyser would complement each other better.

Overall, I'm not willing to give up on Smith quite yet. However, if the right deal came along for another d-man (Edler is still at the top of my list), then you would have to consider including Smith as part of the package.

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I still think our best bet is to make him a forward.

Package a forward and whatever For a good D man and move Smith upfront ah la Brett Burns.

A couple years down the road you've got Smith Andy Mantha or Smith Helm Mantha

He's got the tools and the skills and enough speed, he's just mis- cast as a defenseman.

That may actually work. I'd take him on forward if he played the position even like his brother, who is a pain in the ass bottom 6 guy to play against. He has the speed for sure. Maybe he'd enjoy just forechecking the hell out of guys. A line of Smith-Helm-Tootoo would be interesting. Hey guys, lets go out there, skate really fast, get 10 hits a shift and then Smitty and Toots can fight guys!

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I'm not giving up on him. Apparently some of you forgot what Ericsson was like his first few years.

Difference to me is that E had a great stretch when he first came up, then took a step back but atleast we knew he had it in him. Also I don't think he was ever quite as bad as Smith is defensively. Imagine how bad Smith would look if we still had Lids, Raffi and Stuart? E was the weakest link of a stacked defense, Smith is by far the weakest link of a much less stacked D.

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Difference to me is that E had a great stretch when he first came up, then took a step back but atleast we knew he had it in him. Also I don't think he was ever quite as bad as Smith is defensively. Imagine how bad Smith would look if we still had Lids, Raffi and Stuart? E was the weakest link of a stacked defense, Smith is by far the weakest link of a much less stacked D.

?

Smith's first 14 games in the NHL he scored 7 points and was a +3, which lead all our defense in scoring besides Kronwall. He displayed incredible vision and patience with the puck, and when he pinched in, the results usually yielded excellent scoring opportunities, if not goals.

EDIT: Just read Echolalia's post and realized I'm saying basically the same thing. So what he said. :D

Great minds think alike :)

Edited by Echolalia

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