Brad Smith (ice hockey)

Lore & Background

Described as a heady, defensive forward known for his physical play, Smith led his hometown Windsor Spitfires in scoring with 37 goals and 90 points during his rookie OHA season, 1976–77. The following year, he was traded to the Sudbury Wolves for Wes Jarvis. Registering 80 goals and 172 points in 136 OHA games, Smith was selected by Vancouver 57th overall in the 1978 NHL entry draft. During his first intrasquad game, he scored twice and got into a fight with Dennis Kearns. Sent to the CHL's Dallas Blackhawks where he scored 17 times in 60 games in 1978–79, Smith earned a two-game call-up to the parent club.

Smith played for Vancouver in the 1979-80 Super Series, in which nine NHL teams played a series of games against the top two Soviet clubs. In the opening game on December 26, 1979, Smith led the Canucks to a 6–2 victory, scoring twice within 17 seconds (both slapshots) against HC Moscow Dynamo goaltender Vladimir Myshkin. It was the only game the Dynamo lost against the four NHL teams faced. On February 8, 1980, Smith and Don Lever were traded to Atlanta for Darcy Rota and Ivan Boldirev. Smith played four games for Atlanta before the team relocated for the 1980–81 season, where he became an original member of the Calgary Flames. On December 27, 1980, Smith scored the game-winning goal on a two-on-nothing, give-and-go breakaway with Alex McKendry to beat Philadelphia 2–1. In all, Smith scored seven goals over 45 games with Calgary before he was sent down to the Birmingham Bulls of the CHL. There, he registered 11 points in 10 games before the Bulls folded abruptly on February 20, 1981. Eight days later, Smith was on the move again, this time to Detroit, where he was traded for Rick Vasko, scoring 5 goals in 20 games for his highest NHL season total of 12.

Splitting the next four years between Detroit and its farm team, Smith was named an American Hockey League All-Star after registering 72 points with the Adirondack Red Wings in 1984–85. Playing the final game of the season with Detroit, Smith scored, then suited up for the playoffs, setting up a goal by John Ogrodnick and fighting Al Secord. After five years in the Detroit organization, Smith turned down a one-year contract offer to test the free-agent market. Signed instead by Toronto for two years, 'Motor City Smitty', as he was nicknamed by then Leafs' radio man Bill Waters, enjoyed his most productive years on hockey's biggest stage, Maple Leaf Gardens. During the 1985–86 season, Smith registered a career NHL high 17 assists to go along with his five goals over 42 games. He was nominated for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy. He also had an excellent playoff showing, scoring twice (one of which involved a lesson in geometry as he shot from the corner, banking the puck off St. Louis Blues goaltender Greg Millen's pads and into the net for Toronto's only goal in the game seven Norris Final 2–1 loss) and adding an assist in six post-season games.

Reader's Guide

Smith's significance lies in his role as a versatile, physical forward who could change the pace of a game. Coached in Toronto by Dan Maloney and John Brophy respectively, Smith's skills were best utilized with the Maple Leafs, where his key role was to 'change the pace of the game'. The Toronto Star's Frank Orr deemed Smith 'an adrenalin player' while Brophy saw Smith as 'a whirling dervish' who could stray from a disciplined checking role at the flip of a switch, leaving his wing, generally skating all over the ice, and playing what Brophy termed a 'helter-skelter' style designed to throw the opposition's systems into chaos—an infuriating trait that would eventually get Smith's name on the Stanley Cup. Don Cherry described Smith as 'one of the best cornermen in the league'. Cherry also liked the fact that fights were a big part of Smith's game. And while one of hockey's last 11 helmetless warriors seldom won, he seldom lost, holding his own against the likes of Clark Gillies, Stan Jonathan, 'Mad Dog' Bob Kelly, Joey Kocur, Lindy Ruff, and Glen Cochrane. As a Maple Leaf, Smith faced his former team, the Red Wings, on November 15, 1986, in Toronto, fighting Gerard Gallant on the opening face-off, then going on to drop the gloves three more times that game. So distracted were the Wings by their former teammate that Toronto was up 6–0 by the time Smith was ejected and served with 57 minutes, etching his name in Maple Leaf records as the most penalized Leaf in a single game. Smith was again a stalwart playoff performer in 1986–87, scoring a game-winning breakaway goal to clinch Toronto's 1987 opening-round series win over the St. Louis Blues on April 16 of that year. At that point, the Leafs had not won a best-of-seven playoff series since 1978, and they would not win another playoff series period until 1993, making Smith's goal, arguably, the most important over a span of 15 years in Toronto Maple Leafs history. More recently, the goal is celebrated in the Hockey Night in Canada DVD box set, Ten Great Leafs and Their Most Memorable Games.

Did You Know?

• Smith scored twice within 17 seconds against Soviet goaltender Vladimir Myshkin in the 1979-80 Super Series.
• Smith holds the Toronto Maple Leafs record for most penalty minutes in a single game (57).
• His game-winning goal in 1987 was the Leafs' first best-of-seven playoff series win since 1978.