evilzyme

Did anyone get to hear Micky Redmond on 101WRIF last week? He had brought up that Eddie Olcyzk is the equivalent of him with the Wings, a complete homer color guy. He didn't understand how they would even allow him to be on the broadcast with his absolute bias, and it completely shows. Another funny segment was when they had asked ol Micky if he found himself doing color when he watches the Wings at home. He basically said that he does his own color, which requires him to shut his windows and doors haha. 

This is a very important game because I feel that with a win tonight, we would make Chicago face adversity for the first time this season. The Red Wings as a franchise have gone through some insane amounts of adversity this season, all while succeeding when looking it in the eyes. The Blackhawks don't know what adversity is right now. I feel take this game and take the series lead, and we're going to start setting them into a tail-spin. Game 2 was outstanding, but this is going to be the movement maker. Take this game boys, show them that they aren't as good as they think and that the hockey world has underestimated us. We are for real!

The Joe better be on fire tonight!! Wish I could really hear the game but I came back to my house with internet and cable magically out. They can't get a guy over to the house to fix the cabling until Wednesday... UGH. Guess i'll be watching from the bar tonight.

 

I agree with you, he's an offensive defenseman.  The problem is, he hasn't been all that good offensively either.  I'm not just talking about playing in his own zone.  The guy doesn't pinch smartly, turns the puck over in transition CONSTANTLY, and rarely shoots when in the offensive zone.  Again, he'll get better I know.  But I don't think it's unreasonable to expect more out of Smith given what he brings each night, given what he was supposed to bring, and given how other young guys have played. 

Completely agree. I think if he was doing his job offensively, he wouldn't be getting the amount of backlash he has been, or it would at least be shadowed by his offensive production. I think the hardest part for him is that Babcock has stressed this team about defensive play coming first. Because of this he's afraid to play his game most likely, or has to limit it (speculation on my part). Basically, Smith can't be Smith and that works against him 10-fold when it's also his first full-time season with the team, not to mention having to play a role way bigger than he can accept. 

You're absolutely right though, that he has fumbled pinches, thrown mindless first passes, and hesitated only to burn himself hard. It's hard to look past that just because that's where he should be excelling, especially the more offensively based mistakes.

It may not be that influential, just because it doesn't dictate where a player will actually play in college, or juniors BUT last time I checked (about a month ago) Michigan is #2 behind Minnesota in registered USA hockey players. Michigan and Minnesota basically make up majority of hockey players, as other states are simply categorized within location, "Mid-West, Atlantic, etc." When we have so many players coming out of two states, you're more prone to hearing about those states when dealing with national broadcast, if that makes any sense.

I need to preface this by saying that I don't think he should be traded (unless it's for someone amazing), but you can't use "being a rookie" as an excuse for everything.  He has played MUCH worse than Dekeyser and arguably worse than Lashoff as well.  They're both rookies, and far less heralded than Smith was.  Why is it that they manage to look solid despite being rookies while Smith can't seem to go two games without giving up the puck for a goal?  Nobody is expecting him to be a super star, but given that he was our top rated and most highly touted prospect, I think we can expect a little more out of him than this...rookie or not. 

DeKeyser and Lashoff are supposed to be good defensively. They're both defensive based defensemen. Smith hasn't been good defensively throughout his career. It's been one of the main things working against him, "needs to get better defensively." He's been our highly touted defensive prospect for his offensive capability. It's the same reason why people can't expect DeKeyser to throw huge numbers up offensively, it just hasn't been apart of his game. Now, with both examples, it doesn't mean they can't get better at it. I think given the situation we're in right now, Smith has had to change his game up quite a bit. He can't just be 100% offensively minded, and work his pinches like he did in the A. He needs to learn this medium, along with being in a top 4 pairing instead of a top 6 pairing. Given his situation, honestly, he hasn't been that bad. On top of all of this, the guy seriously hasn't even played enough games to equal a full NHL season. He's basically over half a full season in, without playoff games included. You can't expect him to be fully up to speed, especially defensively.