Sergei Belski-USA TODAY Sports

As goes Mike Smith, so go the Arizona Coyotes

The Arizona Coyotes are not a very good hockey team. This is an obvious statement that requires no advanced statistics or anything of the like. They’re decent on paper and the product on the ice has been quite poor. If the current trend that has been witnessed in the first near-quarter of the season is any indication, they could spend the year battling the Edmonton Oilers for that spot at the bottom of the Western Conference.

Right in the middle of those struggles is goaltender Mike Smith. A player that may or may not have been robbed of a Vezina Trophy bid just a few years ago, Smith has been very good at a couple of different points for the Coyotes, but has endured an extremely rough start to the year overall. His numbers paint a pretty ugly picture for a Coyotes team that has failed to grasp anything resembling consistency in the first month-and-a-half of the year.

Smith’s numbers on the season feature a 3.43 goals against average and an .889 save percentage. This has led to a 4-9-0 record and a bit of a supposed goaltending controversy in the eyes of some fans, who feel that the club may be better served to give Devan Dubnyk  a run between the pipes for an extended period of time. Given the success that we’ve seen Smith have in recent years, there’s no reason to pull the trigger on that type of move right now. Nonetheless, there should be a concern over the play of Smith, especially given the team in front of him.

Mike Smith has faced the ninth-most shots in the league overall, despite just 13 starts to this point. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily excuse the fact that he’s already allowed six goals on three different occasions, while allowing five goals in his most recent start against the Calgary Flames. The team in front of him isn’t great, with a sub-par offense and an average, at best, blue line (as deep as that group may be overall). He still plays in a system that is designed to benefit him, so the production that the Coyotes are expecting is obviously absent from his game to this point.

So just what should the Coyotes be expected to do? Should they continue riding it out with their franchise goaltender, who they’ve invested more money into than any other player on the roster? The answer there essentially lies within the question. There stuck with Smith at this point, and are now forced to endure the storm. If he continues to struggle like this, that’ll paint the picture of the remainder of the season for Arizona.

At the same time, though, there is cause for some optimism. He has played quite well in a couple of different settings, including stealing a game from the Anaheim Ducks in a shootout on the road. He’s allowed two or less goals in four of his last seven starts, and had a pretty good run going prior to his last two, in which he’s allowed nine scores combined. It’s just a matter of grasping any semblance of consistency for the Arizona netminder. At the same time, though, it’s important to acknowledge that the team in front of him has to do their part as well, which hasn’t necessarily been the case to this point, at least for the majority of the season.

In what is already potentially a lost season for the Coyotes, they certainly need more from their franchise netminder if there is even the slighest bit of hope for a turnaround. If not, the goaltender controversy questions won’t only continue to linger, they’ll increase. That’s in addition to continuing their race towards Connor McDavid. As goes Mike Smith, so go the Arizona Coyotes.

About Randy Holt

Spending his days as an English teacher, Randy spends his afternoons, nights, and weekends as a writer on the Bloguin Network, as well as SB Nation. He is a staff writer for both Puck Drunk Love and The Outside corner, as well as Second City Hockey and Beyond the Box Score on SB Nation, showcasing his love for both hockey and baseball, as well as run-on sentences. A Chicago native (and Phoenix resident), he is an avid Game of Thrones viewer/reader and lover of red meat.

Quantcast