What the Smid Trade Means for Calgary

On Nov. 8, the Calgary Flames acquired defenceman Ladislav Smid and goaltender Olivier Roy from the Edmonton Oilers in exchange for forward Roman Horak and goaltender Laurent Brossoit. This week, the trade is broken down to determine what the transaction means for Flames Nation.

Additions

Experienced, gritty and defensively-minded, Ladislav Smid is an instant upgrade on the Flames back end, as LWOS’s Ben Kerr already stated in his instant analysis of the deal. The 27-year-old has been a defensive anchor in Edmonton for the past several seasons, averaging over 20 minutes of ice-time a game in the three seasons prior to this one, and just under 18 minutes in 17 games with the Oilers this year before being traded. He is also well-known for his shot-blocking and physical play, and arrived in Calgary with 52 hits and 34 blocked shots already on the season. Smid is expected to assume a similar role with the Flames, especially with team captain and workhorse defenceman Mark Giordano on the shelf until mid- to late December. And he already has: in just two games with the Flames heading into Saturday’s match-up against his former team, Smid has six hits and seven blocked shots.

But the addition of Smid also crowds Calgary’s blueline. Smid is already the 10^th defenceman to dress for the Flames this season, but of that group, only Chad Billins and Christopher Breen are have never before played in the NHL. Meanwhile, Smid’s current four-year, $14 million contract makes him one of eight Calgary defenders with one-way deals. Once Giordano returns, this means that the Flames will be in a tough position to give their defensive prospects a chance to audition with the big club. And with Calgary’s rebuild in its infancy and defencemen Chris Butler, Kris Russell and Derek Smith all set to become unrestricted free agents at the end of the season, the Flames need to see how their farm players handle the big leagues sooner rather than later. Calgary’s management and coaching staff have both insisted that the organizational philosophy is to compete and to win, and the addition of Smid seems to fit this mentality. But given that the Flames are jockeying with Edmonton for last place in the West with a fifth of the season in the books, and are showing no signs of escaping their current downward spiral, Calgary’s front offices should be taking a more realistic and long-term approach to their defensive corps, and using this season as an opportunity to explore their young players’ potential.

The addition of 22-year-old Olivier Roy helps to mitigate the loss of goaltending prospect Laurent Brossoit. A sixth-round pick of the Oilers in the 2009 draft, Roy thrived in the QMJHL. He set the record for wins by a 16-year-old with 27 in 2007-2008, while also winning the league’s rookie of the year award. By the time he left the league after four seasons, he was second all-time in both wins and shutouts in QMJHL history. He was named to Team Canada for the 2011 IIHF World Junior Championship, but inconsistency in round-robin play led to him being benched in favour of Mark Visetin for the duration of Canada’s playoff run that ended with a 5-3 loss to Russia in the gold medal game. Roy has since advanced to the AHL, where his numbers with the Oklahoma City Barons also suggest a lack of consistency. Last season, he went 9-9-1 in 22 appearances, posting a 2.77 goals against average and a .902 save percentage before being demoted to the ECHL, where he finished the season. This year, in four games with the Barons before being traded, Roy gave up 12 goals in four games, going 2-2-0 with a .897 save percentage. Roy has demonstrated considerable potential between the pipes on numerous occasions, but it will be consistency and dependability, or a lack thereof, that determine his future in Calgary.

Subtractions

The biggest disappointment for Calgary in this deal is the departure of 20-year-old goaltending prospect Laurent Brossoit. Brossoit posted an impressive 42-13-5 record in 61 games with the WHL’s Edmonton Oil Kings during the 2011-2012 season, helping the team to a first-place finish in the WHL regular season standings. Though they fell short in the Memorial Cup, Brossoit led the Oil Kings to a WHL championship title, finishing with a 16-4 record, two shutouts, and a sparkling .933 save percentage and 2.04 goals against average. The following year, Brossoit was cut from Team Canada’s 2013 IIHF World Junior Championship selection camp, but still had an excellent season with the Oil Kings. In 49 games, he was 33-8-6 with a 2.25 goals against average and a .917 save percentage, along with five shutouts. Brossoit was once again impressive in the playoffs, backstopping the Oil Kings to a WHL final loss with a 14-8 record and five shutouts, while improving on his previous post-season with a .935 save percentage and a 1.82 goals against average.

This year, the young goaltender played only two games with the Abbotsford Heat, surrendering nine goals before swapping places with fellow netminder Joni Ortio, who had been playing with the Heat’s ECHL affiliate, the Alaska Aces. At the time of the trade, Brossoit had yet to give up a goal in three appearances with the Aces, including two starts in which he posted back-to-back shutouts. Although his debut with the Heat was far from impressive, Brossoit has shown tremendous promise, and would likely have benefited from a wider window of opportunity in Abbotsford. It’s true that the Flames have both Ortio, who has been solid during the Heat’s recent win-streak, and 19-year-old Jon Gilles on their goaltending depth-chart, in addition to Reto Berra, Kari Ramo and Joey MacDonald. But while Ramo and Berra have both shown flashes of brilliance, neither has handled Calgary’s netminding duties particularly masterfully, and past disappointments like Leland Irving and Henrik Karlsson have demonstrated just how difficult it is can be to build depth in the crease.

In 22-year-old Roman Horak, Calgary loses a smaller, versatile forward who can play both at centre and on the wing. Horak was acquired from the New York Rangers in 2011, and has since played parts of three seasons with the Flames. Over that span, Horak showed respectable promise for a player of his skill and size (6’0, 170 pounds). In 82 career games with Calgary, Horak had five goals and eighteen points, as well as 16 penalty-minutes and 46 hits.

Verdict

The Flames lost a solid goaltending prospect in Brossoit, but received decent compensation in Olivier Roy. Horak, meanwhile, is the type of player that is relatively easy to replace.

In Ladislav Smid, the Flames get a veteran defenceman with a physical edge that will almost certainly help the team on the back end. That said, Smid’s arrival has the potential to create a complicated situation on the blueline. The success of this trade will ultimately be determined by Calgary’s coaching and management staff. It will be up to them to strike a balance between utilizing Smid’s valuable skill-set and giving their defensive prospects a chance to prove their mettle, while also being mindful of the fact that a player like Smid has considerable trade value for a rebuilding team like Calgary. If they are able to do this, Smid could prove to play a valuable role in the team’s future. If not, this deal could transform into yet another failed quick-fix attempt that sets the organization back even further, and Flames Nation has already seen more than enough of those.

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