The Gamebreaker

Training camp is officially in the books and I couldn't be more excited.   

The Gamebreaker has finally arrived. 

From the sounds of it, the namesake of this blog, Brendan Smith, turned in a excellent performance up in Traverse City.  I think this news is sweet, sweet, beautiful music to the ears of every Wings' fan.  Smith is the future of the Red Wings' defense.  I don't know about you, but hearing that he looked good in camp makes me feel so much more comfortable about the Red Wings in the post-Lidstrom future.

To quote Mike Babcock via George's write up over at A2Y with credit going to Chuck Pleiness:

“He’s going to be a really good player,” Babcock said. “I like his disposition. He’s got a lot of upside.”

If the coach likes Smith and thinks he has a bright future, I think that's saying a lot about the kid.  Babcock believes he's going to be a gamebreaker for the Wings.  He's still young and adjusting to the speed at the next level, but he's going to get there.  He'll be a difference maker on this team.

We've all known that Smith has the talent to be a top-end blueliner in the NHL, but there was always the question of whether he could put it all together and succeed.  We are seeing the beginning of Smith putting the puzzle pieces together.  At prospects camp, he took all his puzzle pieces and flipped them over to the correct side.  He saw what he was working with.  Smith was once again in Lidstrom's locker.  He was counted on to be a leader among the prospects.  Now, at training camp, we've seen Smith take the outside pieces and put the border of the puzzle together.  Odds are Smith is going to spend the upcoming season in Grand Rapids.  This is where he is going to fill in the border and complete the puzzle.  He's going to fill in the few holes in his game and tighten up defensively, while sharpening his offensive skills.  When he's finished, he's going to look at the completed puzzle and see himself as one of the best young defensemen in the NHL. 

I, for one, cannot wait.  I've been riding the Smith bandwagon for some time now.  He's has the brightest future of the next wave of Wings' defensemen.  To me, between Smith, Kindl, Lashoff, and, hopefully, Ericsson (although it seems like he's regressing these days), the Red Wings are in good shape in the coming years.



Here is a video Smith's goal in the Red/White game from yesterday.

Let's Go Red Wings