When Mike Smith went down for eight to 10 weeks with a stomach core muscle injury, most predictors thought that was going to put the dagger in the heart of the Coyotes' season.

Think again.

Since Smith's untimely injury requiring surgery, the team has gone 13-10-4 and is currently in a playoff spot. Many critics of Smith (and this writer is one of them) felt that the team would do fine without him. After his humiliating season last year, there were hopes that Smitty would regain the level of play he exhibited during the 2011-12 season - the season where he led the team to the Western Conference Finals against the Los Angeles Kings.

Is Smith Worth the Money?

There were high expectations for him to start earning that $5.67 million a year contract rewarded to him after his outstanding play. That was not the case up until the time he went on the injury list. His numbers were less than impressive with a save percentage of .901, and a goals against average of 3.06. Talk of why the team paid him so much for so little performance began to start again.

Anders Lindback's Excellent Opportunity

It was decided that this would be the perfect time to see what backup goalie Anders Lindback could do. Well, let's just say he fell flat on his face. Going 5-6-1 with a save percentage of only .892, and giving up an average of 3.04 goals a game just wasn't going to cut the mustard.

Louis Domingue to the Rescue

Fortunately, the Arizona Coyotes gave Louis Domingue a chance to show the team what he could do. And, wow did he ever!

In 15 games which he has appeared (he substituted for Lindback in a couple of games) he sports a 8-4-3 record, with a save percentage of .927, and a goals against average of 2.17. He also added two shutouts. Who would you want defending your goal?

He is still young (23), and made a bone-head play recently when he played the puck and got in trouble, only to lose it. What transpired after that is still an unanswered mystery. For some questionable reason he took his mask off, and the Kings quickly saw their opportunity scoring into a pretty much open net. Domingue acted like his mask was knocked off, when the replay clearly showed he took it off himself. Then, it was thought maybe a strap broke... nope. Good goal.

Domingue plays the angles very well, and is cool, calm and collected. What he needs to concentrate more on is allowing his defensemen to play the puck, and stay in his net. Wondering out of the net usually doesn't end well.

When Smith Comes Back, Who Will Start?

Head Coach Dave Tippett has stated that "if you win, you're in." So far, that means that Domingue may have the inside track position to continue to be the starter. Whether Smith will be an overpaid backup goalie, or be thrown back into being the overpaid starter again, is still yet unknown.

It certainly doesn't make any sense to carry three goalies. Then, the question becomes what to do with Lindback? 

It is quite clear that if Domingue continues to play at the level he has shown that he should at least be battling Mike Smith for the starting goaltender spot. That could only motivate Mike Smith into playing more like the almost $6 million dollar man again.

It will be intriguing to see how this one turns out.