The Flames looked as though they might have started the 2017-18 season with, perhaps, too many goalies. As the year progressed, it looked like they settled into a groove. Then injuries struck and everyone kind of fell apart, leaving plenty of questions, and no real long-term answers.
The Flames haven’t had a long-term goaltending solution in place since Miikka Kiprusoff retired at the end of the 2013 lockout season. Since then, they’ve bounced around: maybe Karri Ramo was the answer? Reto Berra? Joni Ortio? Jonas Hiller? Brian Elliott? Okay, how about Mike Smith?
And there was the answer: Smith.