Over the last few games we are starting to see Smits making more mistakes despite his under 15min/game usage -much below the other 5 dmen. His decision making and skating are showing flaws and he seems to be getting manhandled in the d end more often.
1. Clearly fatigue has set in
2. The other teams' scouting and analytics are always looking for flaws - the other guys are pros, too
3. He has shown minimal offense
4. He is not playing on the pk
All this is understandable for an 18 year old.
The question is what are the NYR thinking about with Smits? On one hand, losing Igor means the NYR might not make the playoffs so there is no harm to the team throwing Smits out there every night. On the other hand, maybe Smits playing in Hartford 20min/night plus pk and no NHL pressure might do Smits some good and allow him to work on things, including getting his man strength.
Replacing him with Robertson might even help the NYR right now. I never understand the rush to put a guy in the NHL when he is clearly not dominant on the ice and actually being protected every night. Robertson had a decent 3rd pair season last year and has the capabilities to not make mistakes and pickup some PK time to help the other dmen.
Is staying in NY about
1. Getting him better coaching/training/physio?
2. Living arrangements for an 18 year old might be difficult in Hartford vs NY?
3. Do the NYR want to pay him the larger salary but cannot if they send him to Hartford?
IMHO he should be spending time in Hartford for a month or 2. I would love to know what the NYR are thinking.
What do you guys think?
1 Cup in 86 years
2048