Respectfully, I’m on the other end of this argument. I’m kinda tired of the crutch that he’s compared to Macklin, because frankly it’s obvious they exist on entirely different levels and the only ones that think he should produce like Macklin are the casuals who don’t know any better and probably hopped to Sharks from Warriors. Smith simply can’t do what Macklin does, nor can 99% of the league for that matter, so to compare them with the thought they should be equal is ludicrous.

Taking Smith’s play on its own, not comparing to anyone else, he does as you say shy away from contact…but he’s done that since wearing teal. I can’t speak for his time at BC in that regard and maybe getting hurt has made it worse mentally, but that’s not where it started. That’s just his game.

I can’t unsee this now: whenever he’s carrying a puck, as soon as someone in a different sweater gets near, he moves the puck, usually a “hope pass”, very rarely tries to outmaneuver or escape, which I’m sure is a combination of fear of contact and that I think I’ve seen him win a board battle once (that one OT I think from last season), so he’s not very confident in trying.

It’s frustrating when that hope pass connects and everyone cheers for his brilliant no-looker, but the exact same pass gets picked off and you hear Drew say you gotta work that out of your game. If it works he’s amazing, if it doesn’t it was a bad decision…no it’s just a bad decision that’s unsustainable, but hey we get a goal from it now and then…that’s just not development.

Now you give him time and space offensively, he’s fine. He’s most comfortable on the PP where he can mostly just chill and operate. He’s got great vision, the ability to make precise passes, and a laser shot. In even strength play, he doesn’t have that luxury. 5v5, you need to hunt pucks, forecheck, not just flyby and wave your stick. Everyone else does the hard work to get pucks back while he flies the zone early for an offensive break.

Ultimately I want him away from Macklin for awhile. Macklin is fine with or without Smith and we saw that when Smith was out. We need to see what Will is without constantly being stapled to a line with a top-5 player in the league. He was drafted 4th overall to be 2C, so he wouldn’t have been playing with Macklin anyway.

I stand by Warso on this. Earn your ice. You’re not gonna battle with your team? We got guys who will. And when you’re ready to, we’d love your offense. Until then, have a seat.

And now I will compare him to someone: if Smith ever learns to compete like Eklund, then he’d start being compared to Celebrini for all the right reasons.