So far, our lines next year look something like this:
Erat-Arnott-Dumont
Hörnqvist-Legwand-Free Agent
Pihlström-Wilson-Jones
Tootoo-Free Agent (perhaps Nichol returns?)-Smithson
Peverley and an enforcer as the extras.
I personally don't have a problem with this signing... so long as there is only one other like it and that is either Scott Nichol or Radek Bonk, but not both.
Last edited by worstfaceoffmanever: 07-31-2008 at 12:17 PM.
So far, our lines next year look something like this:
Erat-Arnott-Dumont
Hörnqvist-Legwand-Free Agent
Pihlström-Wilson-Jones
Tootoo-Free Agent (perhaps Nichol returns?)-Smithson
Peverley and an enforcer as the extras.
I personally don't have a problem with this signing... so long as there is only one other like it and that is either Scott Nichol or Radek Bonk, but not both.
Just for clarification's sake...he does mean "next year" as in the 2009-10 season, not this season...
OMG, what snobs Nashville fans have turned into!!! Smithson is a valuable role player, a great penalty killer, and very good in the locker room. This is a good deal for him and really doesn't block anyone from moving up from Milwaukee.
Not every signing can be a player of "star" caliber. We are not signing Mats Sundin...but I bet we will be in the running for the subsequent salary dump that has to come after someone does sign Sundin...
We went through an offseason last year that decimated our organizational depth. Now that we have stabilized we have been focused on locking in the foundation of our franchise (Weber, Suter, Hamhuis, Legwand, Erat, Dumont) and shoring up the rest of the lineup with signings such as this.
Every team in the league needs depth players! Every team in the league dresses a fourth line!!! Some teams actually care about the makeup of that fourth line and make sure there are players that can contribute every night (ie: Predators - Smithson - top PK'er), others simply load up the fourth line with scraps that are simply out there to not get scored on.
Do we really need to sign 4th line Pkers to 750k contracts? He is a good penalty killer, I will readily admit. He is also adaquete on the 4th line. I guess I can understand the rational behind extending him, but I know that everyone, including myself, is focused on one thing right now: scoring wingers....
Not every signing can be a player of "star" caliber. We are not signing Mats Sundin...but I bet we will be in the running for the subsequent salary dump that has to come after someone does sign Sundin...
Who on here has said that every signing has to be of a star player?
Quote:
Every team in the league needs depth players! Every team in the league dresses a fourth line!!! Some teams actually care about the makeup of that fourth line and make sure there are players that can contribute every night (ie: Predators - Smithson - top PK'er), others simply load up the fourth line with scraps that are simply out there to not get scored on.
Who on here stated that the fourth line doesn't matter? Smithson may be decent on the penalty kill, but he is used in other situations and it's those situations where he is terrible.
Why can't our organization improve on the third and fourth lines? Get better two-way players...
So we're snobs for not endlessly praising every move that David Poile makes?
I agree with your premises. I all comes down to whether you believe both the third and fourth line are too weak, or whether the problem lies on the ineffectiveness of the third line leading to a fourth line being rolled out far too often.
Ideally the third line is a grind/shutdown line with the fourth line being pkers and energy guys. We have the pkers, and to some degree we have the energy guys. Unfortunately, the energy guys are usually playing on one of our top 3 lines.... I believe that if we fixed the third line, our fourth line would suddenly look a LOT better.
I'm ok with this as long as it's not followed by extensions for Fiddler, Bonk, Ortmeyer, etc. Smithson is serviceable in his role, even if 750k is a bit on the steep side for what he does.
I have a bad feeling, however, that this signals an effort to keep our current group of 3rd/4th liners, which we all agree is in need of significant upgrade on the whole.
OMG, what snobs Nashville fans have turned into!!! Smithson is a valuable role player, a great penalty killer, and very good in the locker room. This is a good deal for him and really doesn't block anyone from moving up from Milwaukee.
Not every signing can be a player of "star" caliber. We are not signing Mats Sundin...but I bet we will be in the running for the subsequent salary dump that has to come after someone does sign Sundin...
We went through an offseason last year that decimated our organizational depth. Now that we have stabilized we have been focused on locking in the foundation of our franchise (Weber, Suter, Hamhuis, Legwand, Erat, Dumont) and shoring up the rest of the lineup with signings such as this.
Every team in the league needs depth players! Every team in the league dresses a fourth line!!! Some teams actually care about the makeup of that fourth line and make sure there are players that can contribute every night (ie: Predators - Smithson - top PK'er), others simply load up the fourth line with scraps that are simply out there to not get scored on.
Relax people!!!
Of course every team needs fourth liners. Our problem is that we seem to want to run 3 fourth lines. And no, not every signing is going to be "star caliber," no one expects that...but we went into the offseason being down a top six forward. Now we're down two, and the only acknowledgement of this problem has been, "Well, we've got Pihlstrom, Jones, and Peverley that will all take a run at that spot", coming from Poile himself. I'd love to think that one of those guys will step right in and fill the void\replace Radulov, but you've no right to be critical if not everyone is as pollyanna about it as you are.
Oh well I do think Slake is right you do have to have guys like Smithson. He is a good penalty killer. I think what most have a problem with is that this roster has too many of these guys already lol
I did read in the paper that Poile is looking at Parrish, Murray, Gelinas, and Hlavac. And talking to teams for trades in the Tennessean.. So I do think we will pick up somebody soon. This fanbase really needs energizing IMO and signing Smithson is not going to do that LOL
Oh well I do think Slake is right you do have to have guys like Smithson. He is a good penalty killer. I think what most have a problem with is that this roster has too many of these guys already lol
I did read in the paper that Poile is looking at Parrish, Murray, Gelinas, and Hlavac. And talking to teams for trades in the Tennessean.. So I do think we will pick up somebody soon. This fanbase really needs energizing IMO and signing Smithson is not going to do that LOL
Smithson contract was extended simply because he is cheap.
Can't think of any NHL club that would have him on any line for any reason---ever.
