With the Arizona Coyotes 2015-16 season complete, it’s time to dive into each player’s performance and make a final tally on how they fared in the 2015-16 season.
There is no Arizona Coyotes player more polarizing than starting goaltender Mike Smith.
The 34-year-old netminder straddles the line between brilliant and baffling like few others, and it follows that his 2015-16 season traveled the same route.
Smith played in just 32 games during the past season thanks to a core muscle injury that kept him out the lineup from December 8th until March 12th.
It was the tale of two halves for Smitty, who played in 22 games pre-injury and put up an appalling .901 save percentage before ultimately realizing there was no way he could remain productive with the injury.
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After his return, however, Mike Smith hit the ice for 10 games and posted a blistering .939 save percentage. He only had backstopped 3 games in the final stretch with a save percentage lower than .931.
He finished the season with a respectable .916 save percentage – right about league average – and that’s no small feat compared to where he was before his surgery.
It’s a hell of an improvement and the biggest reason why Smitty gets an “incomplete”. He also played less than half of the season.
There is no doubt that Mike Smith is old and getting older. He’s coming off of a major injury and has had put a string of disappointing seasons after signing a huge contract after the 2011-12 season.
But, for now at least, Smith is the Arizona Coyotes best option in net that is currently on the roster.
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Louis Domingue started out like a firecracker after Mike Smith’s injury, yet fizzled out due to the workload down the stretch. He still has room to grow, but the crystal ball remains murky on whether or not Domingue can ever be a true #1 in the NHL.
Domingue and Smith in tandem will be a huge upgrade over what the Yotes had in net for the majority of the 2015-16 season.
Domingue is good enough to step in for a stretch at a moment’s notice, and perhaps the surgery Smith received mid-season will prove to be a long term catalyst for more consistent play from the goaltender.
Consistency. That’s what the Arizona Coyotes fans need in net.
We see the Mike Smith who could shut out any team in the league on some nights. We also see the Mike Smith who is over-eager to play the puck behind the net, or gets beaten by a soft goal and then falls apart.
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A .916 or better save percentage in 2016-17 would be the best Smith has performed across a full season since his fabled breakout in 2011-12.
This team will need him performing in order to be competitive for a playoff berth.