Comments on: The Big Question: How much has Dave Tippett’s defensive system affected Mike Smith’s stats?

By: punkrulz24

punkrulz24 — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:04:45 +0000

This reinforces one of the rumors I heard on why Bryz is playing so badly. This rumor is beginning to sound more like fact. Would love to see a new defensive coach on the Flyers cause our D has been absolutely terrible as of late, not just the goaltending.

By: davebabychreturns

davebabychreturns — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 22:01:03 +0000

Ask Ilya Bryzgalov.

Anyway it’s not exactly fair but as Smith has played under Tippet twice now I thought this would be an interesting comparison:

Mike Smith’s career without Dave Tippett: 43-52-17, 2.85 GAA, .905 SV%, 6 SO
Mike Smith’s career with Dave Tippett: 47-28-9, 2.34 GAA, .918 SV%, 8 SO

By: hockinj25

hockinj25 — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:34:30 +0000

It doesn’t matter. He’s on my fantasy, I’m in first place, that’s all that matters

By: rosselliott

rosselliott — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 21:27:25 +0000

There’s no doubt that a good defensive team in front of your goalie will improve their numbers, but that’s only part of it. A goalie still has to make those saves and Smith has made some astounding ones this season! Sean Burke also deserves a lot of credit for working with Smith and improving his positioning. As a result, Smith generally uses his size more to stay deeper in his crease than he used to… At least he does when he’s not going walk-about to handle the puck.