Some unsettling injury news coming out of Tampa Bay on Wednesday as the Lightning are planning to be without goaltender Mike Smith for an undetermined amount of time, as he's now listed as out day-to-day with a neck injury. Interesting point of note in regards to this injury, as pointed out today, is that Smith's neck was one of the more troubled spots in his recovery from his post-concussion syndrome, which may suggest that Smith could be on the shelf for a while. Of course, there is nothing substantial about that claim, it's just a point of speculation, just in case we become surprised that Smith is taking a while to recover.
In 28 appearances this season, Smith has amassed a record of 10-11-6 with 1 shutout, which brings his pool points total up to 22. Those same 22 points had him ranked 219th in all pool scoring at the beginning of the week, which isn't great for a starting goalie, but we have to remember that he had lost a good number of starts to teammate, Antero Niittymaki, for a while there. Niittymaki will again take the reins from Smith, for however long Smith is out.
This could turn out to be a bit of a paradigm shift in the standings in the Draft. Smith goes out, he's the goaltending property of Wayne, who currently sits 2nd in the standings, while his replacement, Niittymaki, is a part of Benson's team, who going into Wednesday's action, is 3rd. Benson didn't even have Antero for the most part of his run up the standings, so this could be big.On the Sheet, there is no one with Smith, but there are three teams in the pool with Niittymaki, so there could be some interest there.
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