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NYC Wings Fanatic

Is the Real Brendan Smith Finally Starting the Show Up?

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I completely agree, and my views on Smith are pretty well established. But I do recognize that a guy can develop late...particularly in our system. I was one of the "f*ck Ericsson" folks a couple years ago and I had to eat crow on that. So I have to at least consider the possibility that Smith could do the same, as much as I hate his stupid face.

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We've heard for years of the type of player that Smith can be, and every now and then we see glimpses; but I'm not sure yet who the real Brendan Smith is. Is he the fast skating offensive threat? Or is he the boneheaded penalty taking machine? I wish I knew.

I just wish Babs would handle him better, Smith was heralded as an offensive threat and yet other then a few chances Babs has never given him a chance on the PP. Of all the guys Babs has tried on the point, and failed miserably with(yes I'm looking at you Sammy) why not give Smith a chance? If I'm not mistaken even Ian White had a chance on the PP, Ian freaking White let's all digest that for a second... But the coaching staff can't take all the blame, Smith hasn't taken that next step defensively and made Babs handle him differently either.

There are games when I love the guy and there are games when I want to ring his neck. Other then Quincey he might be the most frustrating player on the team he's talented but hasn't put it all together yet. I guess only time will tell who the real Brendon Smith really is.

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Yep, at times at the start of the year Smith was PKing regularly while Dekeyser wasnt but Dekeyser was on the PP. Babcocks handling of Smith is just bizarre. Kindl didnt produce all year but has all the PP time in the world. Smith is second in ES scoring for dmen and one point off of second without a lick of PP time.

Maybe Babcock is scared if he starts scoring he'll stop worry about defense but with this team needing goals now and an anemic PP he should've at least got a shot.

As for whoever said Lashoff doesnt look bad out there, its because he plays the same minutes as the fourth line forwards do. Give him Smiths minutes and Smith looks much better.

I'm not a huge advanced stats guy but Smith is now leading Detroits D in corsirelative and has a comparable quality of competition, hes not extremely sheltered or anything.

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Why Babs won't play him on the PP though is bizarre. Like someone else mentioned, maybe he's trying to make Smith "earn" his PP time through strong defensive play. It makes no sense that your Dman who is 2nd in even strength scoring gets no PP time.

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I think you need to temper that a bit. I agree that he's a rookie and therefore it's premature to throw in the towel on him...but...lots of other rookies (Lashoff and Dekeyser for instance) manage to go game to game without being noticeably terrible at protecting the puck or maintaining zone coverages. Smith is bad at both...even for a rookie.

The guy you were responding to is wrong for thinking that Smith's deficiencies doom him to a awful career, likewise you're wrong for insinuating that his being a rookie excuses him from having to play responsible defense.

Nevermind. I had something to say but I'll "temper" that. :nono:

Edited by Hockeymom1960

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Is there a clinical diagnosis of bipolar hockey disorder? It always seems to be that he can look like an all-star one game (or even on one play), and then look like a beginning AHLer the very next one. As he is today, he will win your heart sometimes, and then break it at others.

Maybe you oldtimers like me will remember the line from that 1950's-60's quiz show, To Tell The Truth... "Will the real Brendan Smith, please stand up?"

Edited by NYC Wings Fanatic

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This ret*ard has been banished to the third pairing (where he belongs) and he still can't make a decent pass against bottom six talent on a s***ty team. I honestly can't believe the people complaining about how he needs more PP time/How his game is negatively influenced by Quincey. I'll give a nice hefty back slap to the person who starts the "Poor Brian Lashoff, having to Play with Smith" thread.

As always, he'll get get better. But god knows why so many people make excuses for this dips***...oh wait...he occasionally (but rarely) fights guys. Durrrr....

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He sure "showed up" tonight.

Aside from that obviously terrible pass in that game, I thought he had a pretty good night otherwise. Was jumping in and keeping the play alive in the offensive zone really well. And I can't remember the last time I raged at him before that pass yesterday. So I think he's been solid lately. Edited by Wheelchairsuperhero

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PP should be

Kronwall - Smith

Quincey - Kindl

PK should be

Kronwall - Ericsson

Quincey - DeKeyser

Yeah I put on Q on both units, I don't share LGW's overblown hate from him.

Completely agree.

He plays tough minutes, he makes some dumb mistakes, but its bound to happen playing that many minutes.

I'm not a huge fan of his cap hit, but he's clearly the whipping boy of lgw.

All in all, there is better #4 d men out there, but theres also a lot worse.

As for smith.

I think he should be playing forward, but it developing defensemen takes a lot longer then forwards, we need to be patient.

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This ret*ard has been banished to the third pairing (where he belongs) and he still can't make a decent pass against bottom six talent on a s***ty team. I honestly can't believe the people complaining about how he needs more PP time/How his game is negatively influenced by Quincey. I'll give a nice hefty back slap to the person who starts the "Poor Brian Lashoff, having to Play with Smith" thread.

As always, he'll get get better. But god knows why so many people make excuses for this dips***...oh wait...he occasionally (but rarely) fights guys. Durrrr....

Smith will make a stupid pass and take at least one stupid penalty most games, but Kronwall has made some stupid mistakes over the years and yet we have a thread that discusses how great he is (and he is one of the top defenders in the NHL). I remember the uproar when E signed his contract a few years back, but since then he has been our best defenseman not named Kronwall. Just to be clear I'm not comparing Smith to Kronwall or E, but the fact remains that if Smith is put into situations that fit his skills he should improve. Smith is not a great defender but he does have offensive skills that have been underutilized, our PP is a mess and if Smith gets some time on it--it won't be the end of the world it might even help.

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Smith will make a stupid pass and take at least one stupid penalty most games, but Kronwall has made some stupid mistakes over the years and yet we have a thread that discusses how great he is (and he is one of the top defenders in the NHL). I remember the uproar when E signed his contract a few years back, but since then he has been our best defenseman not named Kronwall. Just to be clear I'm not comparing Smith to Kronwall or E, but the fact remains that if Smith is put into situations that fit his skills he should improve. Smith is not a great defender but he does have offensive skills that have been underutilized, our PP is a mess and if Smith gets some time on it--it won't be the end of the world it might even help.

Why not change the entire structure of the team for Brendan? Hell, if he only got offensive zone starts, and played on the first pair, and had PP time, and were allowed to pinch whenever he wanted, he'd put up WAY more points than he has. Nevermind whether he's earned any of that, or what the other guys on the team need for their development/success. F*ck them, lets get Brendan some numbers!

On this team, with this coach, you earn your time by playing the right way. Brendan doesn't...that's why he's not on the PP.

Edit: I'm not going to dwell on this too much, but saying "I'm not comparing Smith to Kronwall and E" right after you compare them, doesn't actually mean you aren't comparing them. It just means you're aware that it's tenuous.

Edited by kipwinger

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Why not change the entire structure of the team for Brendan? Hell, if he only got offensive zone starts, and played on the first pair, and had PP time, and were allowed to pinch whenever he wanted, he'd put up WAY more points than he has. Nevermind whether he's earned any of that, or what the other guys on the team need for their development/success. F*ck them, lets get Brendan some numbers!

On this team, with this coach, you earn your time by playing the right way. Brendan doesn't...that's why he's not on the PP.

Edit: I'm not going to dwell on this too much, but saying "I'm not comparing Smith to Kronwall and E" right after you compare them, doesn't actually mean you aren't comparing them. It just means you're aware that it's tenuous.

To be fair there might have been a small comparison to them as players but mostly I'm comparing the fan reaction to them.

As far earning playing time, give me a break. What has Quincey done to deserve all of his playing time? How is Abby more deserving, especially with all the injuries, to play on the 1st line ahead of Alfie? The only guy that sucked that deserved all his playing time was Cleary.

Not saying Babs need to change the entire ******* system, but come on did you watch the PP last game? It was a ******* disaster, how is trying Smith on the PP could make it any worse?

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Kronwall makes tons of mistakes, many of them boneheaded. But he makes up for it by being our best defenseman and one of the 20ish best defensemen in the league. You're getting a fair amount of bad, but you're also getting oceans of good.

Smith, you're mostly just getting bad. Well, that's not fair. He plays the game well. But is it anything that your average third-pairing defenseman couldn't give us?

Hopefully he grows into a good top-four defenseman who puts up enough points to make whatever mistakes he makes acceptable. He's got about a year to do that.

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To be fair there might have been a small comparison to them as players but mostly I'm comparing the fan reaction to them.

As far earning playing time, give me a break. What has Quincey done to deserve all of his playing time? How is Abby more deserving, especially with all the injuries, to play on the 1st line ahead of Alfie? The only guy that sucked that deserved all his playing time was Cleary.

Not saying Babs need to change the entiref****** system, but come on did you watch the PP last game? It was af****** disaster, how is trying Smith on the PP could make it any worse?

I realize that around here it's customary to bash Quincey for the fun of it, but he's WAY better than Brendan Smith. Way better. The fact that he actually plays defense is a big reason why. Brendan hasn't quite figured out that the word "defense" in his position isn't simply a coincidence.

Secondly, Abby isn't on the first line...Nyquist-Legwand-Franzen is the first line. But even if he were, it would prove my point. To earn time on this team you need to play a responsible 200 ft. game. Abby does. Brendan doesn't.

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I realize that around here it's customary to bash Quincey for the fun of it, but he's WAY better than Brendan Smith. Way better. The fact that he actually plays defense is a big reason why. Brendan hasn't quite figured out that the word "defense" in his position isn't simply a coincidence.

Secondly, Abby isn't on the first line...Nyquist-Legwand-Franzen is the first line. But even if he were, it would prove my point. To earn time on this team you need to play a responsible 200 ft. game. Abby does. Brendan doesn't.

So, after playing for 17 years in Ottawa and having a good first half of the season Alfie doesn't deserve to play on the first or second lines? Or should Emmerton be on the first line instead of Legwand, since he has been here longer?

I know you watch the games and have seen the embarrassment that our power play has become, how can trying Smith on it make it any worse? He makes dumb plays and takes stupid penalties (although lately the penalties have stopped) but I've never seen him hot dog it on the ice. I'll even take it one step further, how is it that E (who has a decent shot) has not at least been given a chance on the power play. Hasn't he deserved to at least get a look? E had 0 PP time last game.

I'll buy what your selling, but with all the injuries this is the perfect time to give a chance to a kid who the Wings for so high on just a couple years go, and if not Smith at least give E a chance.

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So, after playing for 17 years in Ottawa and having a good first half of the season Alfie doesn't deserve to play on the first or second lines? Or should Emmerton be on the first line instead of Legwand, since he has been here longer?

I know you watch the games and have seen the embarrassment that our power play has become, how can trying Smith on it make it any worse? He makes dumb plays and takes stupid penalties (although lately the penalties have stopped) but I've never seen him hot dog it on the ice. I'll even take it one step further, how is it that E (who has a decent shot) has not at least been given a chance on the power play. Hasn't he deserved to at least get a look? E had 0 PP time last game.

I'll buy what your selling, but with all the injuries this is the perfect time to give a chance to a kid who the Wings for so high on just a couple years go, and if not Smith at least give E a chance.

Honestly. Would you trust Smith on the back end of a PP? IMO that's a short-handed goal deathwish right now.

Other guys (DeKeyser, for example) might not have as much offensive punch, but Babcock trusts them to not have melt-downs with the puck.

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Honestly. Would you trust Smith on the back end of a PP? IMO that's a short-handed goal deathwish right now.

Other guys (DeKeyser, for example) might not have as much offensive punch, but Babcock trusts them to not have melt-downs with the puck.

Do I have concerns about his D? Absolutely, but the power play is lifeless, I would welcome any changes at this point. And if trying Smith on the power play is not in the cards now, when everyone is injured, then when? I don't think he'll ever be a sure handed D-man but he might provide some offensive support which may be his only way of helping this team. If Babs doesn't think Smith can help offensively, and we know he can't help defensively, then Smith should have a seat in the press box and let someone else play. Recall Almquist or Ouellet and try them out, if Smith is not the future then with less then 20 games left he shouldn't be the present either.

I like that DD gets power play time but I wish that E would also get a chance. He has shown that he can be trusted with the puck and E does have a decent shot.

Edited by wings87

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