Rick Smith

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CanadaCanada  Rick Smith Ice hockey player
Rick Smith
Date of birth June 29, 1948
place of birth Kingston , Ontario , Canada
size 180 cm
Weight 91 kg
position defender
Shot hand Left
Draft
NHL Amateur Draft 1966 , 2nd round, 7th position
Boston Bruins
Career stations
1965-1968 Hamilton Red Wings
1968-1972 Boston Bruins
1972-1973 California Golden Seals
1973-1976 Minnesota Fighting Saints
1976 St. Louis Blues
1976-1980 Boston Bruins
1980 Detroit Red Wings
1980-1981 Washington Capitals

Richard Allan "Rick" Smith (born June 29, 1948 in Kingston , Ontario ) is a former Canadian ice hockey player who played 765 games for the Boston Bruins , California Golden Seals , St. Louis Blues in the course of his active career between 1965 and 1981 , Detroit Red Wings and Washington Capitals in the National Hockey League (NHL) and 223 other games for the Minnesota Fighting Saints in the World Hockey Association (WHA) on the position of defender . Smith celebrated his greatest career success, who competed with the Canadian national team in the 1974 Summit Series , winning the Stanley Cup for the Boston Bruins in 1970 .

Career

Smith spent his junior years with the Hamilton Red Wings in the Ontario Hockey Association (OHA) between 1965 and 1968 . After his rookie season , the defender was selected in the second round of the 1966 NHL Amateur Draft in seventh place by the Boston Bruins from the National Hockey League (NHL). However, he remained in the OHA for two more years until he was 20 and was elected to the League's Second All-Star Team in 1967 and 1968. Ultimately, Smith completed his junior career with 109 points scorer in 177 games for the Red Wings.

For the 1968/69 season , the young talent surprisingly made the leap as fifth defender in the roster of the Boston Bruins, for whom he was on the ice 57 times during the season - including the playoffs. He also came to 19 missions for Boston's farm team Oklahoma City Blazers in the Central Hockey League (CHL). With the start of the 1969/70 season , the defender was a regular player of the Bruins due to the injury of Gary Doak and won with them the trophy of the same name at the end of the Stanley Cup playoffs in 1970 . To win the title, Smith contributed the first of four goals in Boston in the decisive seventh game of the final series. Smith spent almost two more seasons in Boston after winning the title, before he was transferred to the California Golden Seals in February 1972, together with Reggie Leach and Bob Stewart , which in return gave Carol Vadnais and Don O'Donoghue to the Boston Bruins.

With the Californians, the Canadian stayed until the end of the 1973/74 season , before he suddenly turned his back on the NHL and switched to the World Hockey Association (WHA), which competed with the NHL and attracted high player salaries. There Smith joined the Minnesota Fighting Saints , who had already acquired his WHA transfer rights in May 1972 in exchange for Bill Young and a sum of money from the Philadelphia Blazers . At the Fighting Saints, the defensive player spent a total of three seasons until the franchise had to stop playing during the current season due to financial difficulties at the end of February 1976. In 1974 he had represented the team in the WHA All-Star Game . Due to the dissolution of the team, Smith became a so-called free agent , who then took the chance to return to the NHL. There his transfer rights were now with the St. Louis Blues , who had acquired them in October 1975 from the California Golden Seals.

However, the 27-year-old did not find a sporting home in St. Louis either. By December 1976 he wore the jersey of the Blues 45 times before the Boston Bruins brought their former draft election back into their franchise in exchange for Joe Zanussi . Smith's second job in Boston lasted three and a half seasons. With the team he reached the final series of the Stanley Cup again in 1978 and 1979 . But he could not repeat the success of 1970 with the team. In October 1980, the defender's time in Boston ended again when he was selected shortly before the start of the 1980/81 season in the NHL Waiver Draft by the Detroit Red Wings . After eleven missions, however, the Red Wings showed no further interest in using him in the NHL and tried to send him to the minor leagues via the waiver list . Because he was selected by the Washington Capitals on the list, they took over his current contract and let him play 40 more NHL games by the end of the season. After the season, Smith ended his active career shortly before his 33rd birthday.

International

For his home country Smith was in the 1974 Summit Series for the Canadian country selection consisting of players from the NHL and WHA on the ice. He was used in seven of the eight games in the series and collected 14 penalty minutes while he remained pointless.

Achievements and Awards

Career statistics

Regular season Playoffs
season team league Sp T V Pt SM Sp T V Pt SM
1965/66 Hamilton Red Wings OHA 47 2 16 18th 60 5 1 1 2 6th
1966/67 Hamilton Red Wings OHA 48 2 17th 19th 74 17th 4th 14th 18th 35
1967/68 Hamilton Red Wings OHA 49 5 36 41 123 11 2 9 11 33
1968/69 Boston Bruins NHL 48 0 5 5 29 9 0 0 0 6th
1968/69 Oklahoma City Blazers CHL 19th 5 10 15th 37 - - - - -
1969/70 Boston Bruins NHL 69 2 8th 10 65 14th 1 3 4th 17th
1970/71 Boston Bruins NHL 67 4th 19th 23 44 6th 0 0 0 0
1971/72 Boston Bruins NHL 61 2 12 14th 46 - - - - -
1971/72 California Golden Seals NHL 17th 1 4th 5 26th - - - - -
1972/73 California Golden Seals NHL 64 9 24 33 77 - - - - -
1973/74 Minnesota Fighting Saints WHA 71 10 28 38 98 11 0 1 1 22nd
1974/75 Minnesota Fighting Saints WHA 78 9 29 38 112 12 2 7th 9 6th
1975/76 Minnesota Fighting Saints WHA 51 1 32 33 50 - - - - -
1975/76 St. Louis Blues NHL 24 1 7th 8th 18th 3 0 1 1 4th
1976/77 St. Louis Blues NHL 18th 0 1 1 6th - - - - -
1976/77 Kansas City Blues CHL 7th 1 6th 7th 11 - - - - -
1976/77 Boston Bruins NHL 46 6th 16 22nd 30th 14th 0 9 9 14th
1977/78 Boston Bruins NHL 79 7th 29 36 69 15th 1 5 6th 18th
1978/79 Boston Bruins NHL 65 7th 18th 25th 46 11 0 4th 4th 12
1979/80 Boston Bruins NHL 78 8th 18th 26th 62 6th 1 1 2 2
1980/81 Detroit Red Wings NHL 11 0 2 2 6th - - - - -
1980/81 Washington Capitals NHL 40 5 4th 9 36 - - - - -
OHA total 144 9 69 78 257 33 7th 24 31 74
CHL total 26th 6th 16 22nd 48 - - - - -
NHL overall 687 52 167 219 560 78 3 23 26th 73
WHA total 200 20th 89 109 260 23 2 8th 10 28

International

Represented Canada to:

year team event result Sp T V Pt SM
1974 Canada Summit Series 2nd place 7th 0 0 0 14th
Men overall 7th 0 0 0 14th

( Legend for player statistics: Sp or GP = games played; T or G = goals scored; V or A = assists scored ; Pkt or Pts = scorer points scored ; SM or PIM = penalty minutes received ; +/− = plus / minus balance; PP = overpaid goals scored ; SH = underpaid goals scored ; GW = winning goals scored; 1  play-downs / relegation )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Rick Smith: The Accidental Stanley Cup Winner. In: originalhockeyhalloffame.com. Retrieved June 11, 2020 .
personal data
SURNAME Smith, Rick
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Smith, Richard Allan (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Canadian ice hockey player
DATE OF BIRTH June 29, 1948
PLACE OF BIRTH Kingston , Ontario , Canada