Ladislav Smid
07-08 Prediction:
A smooth skating puck handling defenceman. Tends to make pretty good 1st passes. Reads the play pretty well defensively. Biggest crime last year was being thrust into a key role as a 1st year defenceman, but I believe he has good fundamentals. Can hold onto the puck for too long and isn’t very physical. Hasn’t shown the offensive upside a player of his skill set perhaps could have.
07-08 Evaluation:
I think we saw Smid take a step forward in 07-08 based purely on his desjardins numbers. He saw top 4 minutes, top 4 quality of competition and his GAON was top 4. He still needs to work on helping his linemates put the puck in the net which explains his horrendous +/- but there weren't many Oilers defenceman out of the red last year (only one in fact) so I'm not going to totally hold it against him. Smid's role should be reduced a bit this year and I think that can only help him.
07-08 Evaluation:
I think we saw Smid take a step forward in 07-08 based purely on his desjardins numbers. He saw top 4 minutes, top 4 quality of competition and his GAON was top 4. He still needs to work on helping his linemates put the puck in the net which explains his horrendous +/- but there weren't many Oilers defenceman out of the red last year (only one in fact) so I'm not going to totally hold it against him. Smid's role should be reduced a bit this year and I think that can only help him.
Projection: 3rd pairing defenceman
Key Stat: 4th overall in EV ice time
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2 comments:
//Hasn’t shown the offensive upside a player of his skill set perhaps could have.//
That is the thing about Smid- he makes a nice first pass (as you mentioned), but his offensive game hasnt matched that, and I doubt it ever will.
Still, I have trouble seeing him finish top-4 in EV ice-time; but he ought to see some heavy duty PK work.
I agree, he won't see top 4 EV this year as MacT simply has more and better options, but I think this year will give him a chance to work on something else he needs; more consistency.
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