How Mike Smith has rewarded the Oilers by outplaying Flames’ Jacob Markstrom

EDMONTON — The elephant in the Alberta Room can no longer be ignored.

Or is it the Jari Kurri Room, or the Lanny McDonald Room.

I’m sorry, but I’m not going an entire Oilers–Flames playoff series without bringing up the subject no one on either team wants any part of.

A memory refresher: Edmonton and Calgary each took a mighty swing at UFA netminder Jacob Markstrom in October 2020.

There was a time in that process where I think the Oilers believed they might be getting him. Although that could have just been Newport Sports, Markstrom’s reps (Pat Morris), cleverly leveraging the dueling offers.

In the end, Markstrom signed a six-year, $36-million deal with the Flames on the first day of free agency, Oct. 9, 2020, spurning a seven-year offer from the Oilers which carried a lower AAV but overall had similar total dollars with the extra year.

The very next day, the Oilers were able to re-sign Mike Smith to a one-year, $1.5 million deal (and then last summer signed him to a two-year deal at a $2.2-million cap hit).

But it’s not just one day that Smith had to wait. He really hadn’t heard from any team, including the Oilers, in the time leading up to free agency. The phone wasn’t ringing.

“And he said, ‘Maybe I’m done,’ Smith’s wife Brigitte recalled to Scott Burnside in a piece on the veteran goalie a year ago in The Athletic. “It’s the first time I think where he hadn’t had a call,” Brigitte recalled last May before the playoffs started. “But he said, ‘I don’t feel like I’m done.’”

Oh, he was far from done.

Markstrom, meanwhile, joined a Flames team that had his hometown pal Elias Lindholm, which seemed to have been a factor in the decision, and two years into that choice it’s been a good fit for both goalie and team. The 32-year-old is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy this season.

When I asked Markstrom earlier in this series about the factors in choosing Calgary over Edmonton in free agency, he shut me right down on that topic by saying he was simply focused on the next game, accompanied by a piercing glare that could have burned holes in my large forehead.

So, he ain’t going there. And I get it. The last thing he wants to do is provide bulletin board material to the Oilers. Although honestly when I asked the question I just assumed he would have talked about his desire to play with his pal Lindholm, who was sitting next to him at the media podium when I took my life in my own hands with that query.

Here’s what I would say, however. People who know Mike Smith will tell you that there are few people more competitive in the sport. He knows damn well the Oilers tried to sign Markstrom before going back to the well with him two years ago.

But like Markstrom, it’s not a subject he’s embraced ever since it happened. My media colleagues here in Edmonton have tried to go there with him but he’s not wanted any part of that angle.

And again, I get it. It’s awkward. Why even acknowledge it bothered you, if you’re Smith.

But come on. You know it’s in there somewhere.

“I understand wanting to sign someone who is younger, but all goalies are proud and grew up knowing there is one net,” former NHL goalie Brian Boucher, working the series broadcast for ESPN, told me after Game 3 Sunday night. “The idea that they wanted the guy who signed down the street would motivate any competitor regardless of how old they are.”

“The motivation to beat Markstrom is real and just what a 40-year-old needs to push him over the top,” added Boucher.

All of which makes for such a sexy subplot in this series. Again, there’s no doubt Smith would be motivated by it to some degree.

“Oh 100 percent,” Minnesota Wild netminder Cam Talbot told The Athletic over the phone Monday. “I think he’s obviously motivated because he came over from Calgary first of all. You always want to put your best foot forward against your old team.”

Talbot would know, of course, playing parts of four seasons in Edmonton from 2015 through 2019 and then in Calgary in 2019-20.

“The Battle of Alberta is just one of those games that when you first sign with them, you look forward to it,” said Talbot. “The history of the rivalry between both teams, you always circle those games on your calendar. It was fun to be a part of. We never played them in the playoffs but I’m sure it’s on a completely other level now.

“Last night I had buddies from Calgary texting me saying ‘this is going to get out of hand,” Talbot added with a chuckle. “It must have been when Looch (Milan Lucic) ran Smitty.”

Talbot, by the way, would have been happy to still be part of it. He was interested in re-signing with the Flames after the 2019-20 season but the last-minute offer he got from Calgary was a modest two-year deal which certainly paled in comparison to the three-year, $11-million deal he got in Minnesota.

“When Calgary did sign Markstrom instead of me, you know, we wanted to stay,” Talbot said. “It’s one of those places that you just love it there and you want to be part of it. Those (Battle of Alberta) games just kind of add to the fun of it.”

So the domino did its thing, Markstrom went from Vancouver to Calgary, Smith re-signed in Edmonton, and Talbot went off to Minnesota.

It’s a business, yes, although for goalies, there’s always something personal about it. It’s how they’re wired.

“It’s kind of hard not to (be personal),” Talbot said. “When they give you an offer like that and basically tell you they don’t have any more money and then they go and sign a guy for $36 million, it kind of pisses you off a little bit. But that’s part of the thing. I think they had other plans, had I signed they were going after a bigger-name D-man. But they kind of flipped it and went with Markstrom and (Chris) Tanev instead.

“I don’t know what other D-man they were going after but that was my understanding.”

And again, Talbot gets it. That’s the business.

“I completely understand, they have to do what’s best for the team,” he said. “And I had to do what was best for me and not sign what they offered me. It works both ways.”

He’s enjoyed Minnesota. But yeah, he misses the Battle of Alberta.

“It’s fun still watching those two teams and I’ve still got friends on both sides,” Talbot said. “I spoke with Looch last night after the game. I still keep an eye on that rivalry. Those games were so fun to be a part of and I can’t even imagine what it’s like now.”

Like Talbot, Smith has played net for both organizations in the Battle of Alberta. I’m sure a lot of people thought his career was almost over when. he left Calgary in 2019 at the age of 37.

The thing about Smith is his extreme belief in his abilities. It’s unwavering.

“He’s uncle Rico from ‘Napoleon Dynamite,’” former NHL goalie Jamie McLennan, TSN hockey analyst, said Monday. “You know how uncle Rico was like, ‘I can throw this football over a mountain.’ I think Mike Smith is such an amazing athlete and believes in his ability where he feels he can do anything out there. And back it up.”

McLennan, who attended both Game 2 and Game 3, feels Smith feeds off the doubters. And there have been lots of doubters over the past few years.

“I think he’s the type of guy, he uses negative feedback and criticism to drive himself,” McLennan said. “I think he thrives on pressure. He thrives on doubt. …

“I think his teammates love him. They work for him. They respond to him.”

There have been ups and downs for Smith since those events of October 2020 and some injuries to be sure, and some stinkers sprinkled in there including Game 1 of this series. But the 40-year-old is showing again in these playoffs he can still deliver with a .933 save percentage.

And what a moment after returning to the ice from a concussion spotter visit Sunday night, a standing ovation from an Oilers crowd that went crazy when they saw Smith come down the tunnel.

“I’m just trying to make saves for our group. I’m just trying to stay as poised as possible and make saves when the team needs me to,” Smith said after Game 3. “I mean, the fans have been unbelievable, tonight was no different. Maybe a little bit louder with the Battle of Alberta. Just an unbelievable feeling to play in front of this fan base.”

Two or three months ago, some of those fans were probably trying to run Smith out of town. But hey, that’s sports.

Smith has outplayed Markstrom in two straight games in helping the Oilers take a 2-1 series lead. Although I thought Markstrom looked pretty sharp early in Game 3 facing a barrage of Oilers chances before the dam finally broke.

Either way, there’s no question that the goalie matchup before this series was a factor seen by many in picking Calgary over Edmonton, people questioning whether Smith could hang in there with the Vezina Trophy finalist.

“I would say those questions came from outside our coaches’ room, outside our dressing room,” Oilers head coach Jay Woodcroft said Sunday night after Game 3. “Our team has complete faith in Mike Smith. … He missed the bulk of the first five months of the season and then when he came back in, the team had a few hiccups here and there and was going through a tough time. So by the time he was able to get his game under control, where he wanted it to be, he really started to take off in that last month of the season.”

And the notion that Smith might be getting tired because it’s the first time in five years he’s played 10 straight games, well, the Oilers coach turned spin-master on that one.

“Mike Smith played 28 games in the regular season,” Woodcroft said. “It’s not like he played 63 games and had all that wear and tear.  So for me, for him to have the type of numbers that he has in these playoffs and for him to be able to contribute to our team in the manner that he’s doing it, I think it’s a credit the person.”

What’s really weird is that 63 games is exactly the number that Markstrom played in the regular season. I can’t imagine the Oilers head coach knew that when he picked that number out of thin air, right? Wink, wink.

Oh, the Battle of Alberta.

(Top photo: Andy Devlin / NHLI via Getty Images)