Brendan Smith...Now or Later?

So I haven't posted since the playoffs started. I was sick of blogging, so I took a break. It isn't like anyone noticed, since my three followers didn't even say anything...ANYWAYS....back to it, and they can read again when they are on the downside of too many shots of Jack.

The Red Wings need to start looking at defensemen. Now that Brian Rafalski is retired, Jonathan Ericsson is an unknown factor, Salei is being courted by the KHL, and the Captain is sitting on the fence (again), they really need to concentrate on shoring up the defense. Kronwall is staying, and he should get a crack at the top two with Nic (if he says), and with Brad Stuart if Nic retires.

Something that the Wings have been missing in the past years is a big defense. Brad Stuart is only just coming back into the hitting like he did in the "old days", and Kronwall cant do it all by himself. Looking inward, we see that Brendan Smith really has no ice time with the Red Wings, and its really no surprise considering the caliber of the defensemen that populated the Red Wings bench. Not that he is all that big at 6 foot 1 and 170 pounds, but his scoring presence on the blue line for the Griffins will probably make up for that.

Brendan Smith is a first round draft pick, a Hobey Baker award finalist, and has stood out in training camp and with the Griffins. Mike Babcock called him a potential "game changer" and Kenny Holland says that he will give Smith "every opportunity to become the next Nic Lidstrom". Now, I don't see any reason to put this much pressure on the kid, I mean, how do you fill the shoes of Lidstrom? Fact is, you don't. Nobody was expected to fill Stevie Y's shoes, because they were far too big. Lidstrom's shoes are just as big, and his number will be hanging alongside the other six in the rafters of the Joe before long. Let Smith come up, learn the Red Wings system, and then inject his skills and his own style of play into it.

The only drawback I see for Brendan is that he has only one year with the Griffins, which isn't really a drawback, but we all know that the Wings like to season their recruits in the AHL for a long time before bringing them up. Look how long Jimmy Howard was in the Griffins. He is now pretty much fantastic in net for the Wings, and looks to be there for a long time. Additionally, did anyone actually watch the Griffins last season? The defense wasn't just bad, it was a disaster. Now, this isn't all the fault of the players, since the parent club, suffering a spate of injuries, pulled up nearly everyone that was NHL ready, and some who were not.

In any case, the general consensus is that Brendan is ready. Everything I have read says so. I have not seen him play in the AHL, but I watched him when he played for Wisconsin, and I hated him until the Red Wings got him in the draft. Which means he was beating up on my Michigan teams. Which means he is pretty damn good. Lets just hope that if he is called up, the pressure to fill the shoes of a long time Red Wings defenseman isn't too much for him.