Follow @james_tanner123 The post-Devan Dubnyk era begins today, and oh what an era it was: 9-5-2 .916/2.72 is not a bad line when you play on one of the NHL's worst teams.
That the Coyotes were able to turn a UFA into a 3rd rounder is pretty good, even if 3rd rounders rarely amount to much. The best thing is that by turning to Smith, the Coyotes put themselves in a no-lose situation:
1. Smith rebounds, finds his game and the team can rest comfortably knowing they have a decent goalie for the next few years, giving them time to find and/or develop one.
2. Smith does terribly making the team realize that the position is in desperate need for an upgrade and securing a high-end draft pick.
3. The team gets to view their minor league goalies in NHL action and see how they do.
They literally can't lose in this situation and since Dubnyk was never the long-term solution anyways, it's a perfectly intelligent move.
The 'Yotes beat the Oilers 5-0 this year in their season series, and look to avoid a similar fate against the Flames who are already 3-0 vs Phoenix this year.
After a hot start the Flames have collapsed in a way absolutely no one could have foreseen. Only an idiot who didn't even ever watch the games could have predicted that they'd fall out of the race after some early season success, but that is what happened.
To be fair, the Flames have been, for my money, one of the best teams to watch this year and they only sit two points back of the Wildcard. The problem is, Dallas and Colorado are right on their heels and the Wild aren't too far back.
No matter what, it should be an interesting second-half and a swell Playoff drive stretch-run. I won't be tonight, but I will be cheering for them to make it the rest of the way. Nothing like a little surprise contender who punches above their weight to make the Playoffs 10X more interesting once your team is out of it.
Finally, on a side note, did I really read that Johnny "Worst Nickname in the World" Hockey is going to patent his nickname? That is really sad and if he weren't a Canadian-Kid-who plays-the-game-the-right-way I'd hate to hear what Don Cherry would say about such nonsense.
To quote my daughter: That's lame.
Addendum: Turns out, apparently, that Ol' Johnny Hockey is American and the move to trademark his nickname comes from unauthorized Johhny F'n Hockey tshirts which, being an upstanding family man (one assumes) he doesn't want to be associated with. Fair enough, I say.
Should be a good game tonight. Here's hoping for a bench clearing brawl.
Thanks for reading.