Tracking Ladi I

Completely agree. If the choice is an injured Strudwick, go with Smid every time.

I'm not afraid to say that Smid is more steady than Staios

I missed the game entirely and I'm sure not going to PPV to record it. Relying on the stats is a distant second choice, but surveying Smid's night -- 14:58 TOI all at evens, 1 shot, 1 hit, 2 blocks, and a clean sheet w.r.t. giveaways, penalties, and minuses, I can only conclude he played a solid, low event game. On Lowetide's and OilersNation's gameday threads -- which can often allow one to get the pulse of a missed game -- the comments on Ladi all seemed to be positive.

Considering he's been in and out of the line-up and was playing with his third different partner of the young season, I can find no reason not to be encouraged by Smid's actual play. He's still in a numbers game, a big part of which boils down to $alary number$. With Strudwick playing well, the options to get him in the top 6 are limited barring injury or "personal reasons".

The guy who to my eye has been struggling is Tom Gilbert. The numbers seem to support this observation, not just the boxcar numbers (8 GP, 0-1-1, -2) but the ones charted in this post, as Gilbert ranks 7th, 6th and 6th among Oiler blueliners in GA ON/60, QC and QT. With that big new contract, though, I can't imagine he's in danger of seeing the pressbox even by rotation.

Gilbert has been playing some pretty tough minutes with Souray and Strudwick and Staios missing time due to injury.

RT40: It would seem so, although BtN's rankings are not kind to the 37-77 pairing when measuring QualComp. But as I said way up top, it's early days, and Gabe Desjardins himself confirms these numbers are volatile until they build up a bit.

I think Smid and Strudwick have both been solid this year. Smid seems to be making better decisions with the puck, and while he still loses his man on occasion he seems miles better than last year. Strudwick is the type of guy you expect to excell with Huddy/MacT, and he has...he has some nice toughness too, such that SMac can spend more time in the PB and Storts in the lineup if need be. (It is my understanding that since this is your site, Bruce, I am required by law to say something nice about Stortini)

Unrelated, but I've been very impressed with Souray's decision making with the puck. Smart player, he's slow but he'll fake a pass or chip out to buy some time to complete the outlet pass in his own end. IF he can stay healthy, he may just earn that contract this year (and by saying that I just guaranteed he'll blow his ACL and dislocate a shoulder getting out of the shower tomorrow)

The one thing I have noticed about Ladi, compared to say Grebs at his best, is this...Ladi is fearless at taking the man but is not nearly as good at taking the man, separating man from the puck, and then making a breakout pass. I'm sure it will come. Considering his age Ladi is right on track to be a solid top 4 defender.

Smid is safer because he can actually make a pretty decent outlet pass