Calgary Flames: Five best players through the first 15 games

Two: Mike Smith

Honestly, if it wasn’t for the game against the Vancouver Canucks, Mike Smith would have been the number one best player for the Calgary Flames. But he took somewhat of a dip in his last couple of games and for this reason, he’s fallen to number two.

Heading into the season, Mike Smith was one of the Flames biggest worries. But when the season started, he was the least of their worries. And he was the difference maker. The Flames are in a better place than they were at this point last season, and that difference is because of Smith.

So far this season, in the games where the Flames were dominated, he was their backbone and was the reason they walked away with two points. He also helped the Flames win for the first time at the Honda Center since 2004 in a 2-0 win against the Anaheim Ducks in a 43 save shutout performance.

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Mike Smith is 8-6-0 so far in the season and is tied for sixth among all goaltenders in wins. He’s tied in ninth for SV% (min. 5 games) with 0.923%. But we know that the Flames special teams haven’t exactly been the best – especially their penalty-killing. His even-strength SV% is 0.930.

Like I said, he’s somewhat fallen in his last couple of games.

Before his last two games, Smith was 7-5-0. He was fifth in the league in SV% (min. 5 games) at 0.936. He was second in the league in EV SV% at 0.946.

Currently, while Smith’s low-danger SV% isn’t that great, his high-danger is what sets him apart. He’s currently seventh among all goaltenders in that category at 0.879 (min. 5 games), however, all the goalies ahead of him have played fewer games than him. If we look at it among goalies who have played at least 10 games, he’s fifth.

If Mike Smith can get back into what he was like at the very start of the season, he can continue to be one of the best Flames players all season long.