What went wrong with the New York Rangers: Brendan Smith

One of the many things that went wrong for the New York Rangers this season was the Brendan Smith situation. After signing a big contract over the summer and being accepted by countless fans and teammates alike, this year was a total mess.

At the trade deadline in 2016-17, the New York Rangers acquired Brendan Smith from the Detroit Red Wings. In exchange for the defenseman, they sent a 2018 second round pick and 2017 third round pick.

At the time, it seemed like a logical deadline move to sure up the blue line. The defenseman was known for his physical presence while in Detroit and, then 28 years old, was young enough to stick around for a while. To top it all off, he had already played with two of his new teammates in college; Derek Stepan and Ryan McDonagh.

In 12 playoff games last year, he had four points, all assists, and two fights under his belt. In the first round versus the Montreal Canadiens, he faced off against Andrew Shaw. Then, in the second round, he had an altercation with Dion Phaneuf of the Ottawa Senators.

By then, he was seen as a bright spot on a disappointing Rangers team who was just eliminated from the playoffs. He signed a four-year contract worth $17.4 million ($4.35 million per year) with New York a few days before he could have become an unrestricted free agent.

At that point, a majority of fans were excited to see how Smith would help the Rangers the following year. But, then, everything went sour very quickly.

Beginning of the Season Benchings

The first sign of trouble came up before the season even began. Reports came to trickle in that Brendan Smith had come into New York Rangers’ training camp out of shape.

However, the problem seemed to be fixed when the season began, and he was in the lineup like everyone else. He recorded two points, both assists, in October and was working on finding his place on a defensive pair.

The Rangers had a rough first month or so this season, which wasn’t his fault. No players were really fully pulling their weight, and it was obvious that some changes needed to be made. However, not many people saw a change this drastic coming.

Smith was benched for six games, from October 31st to November 17th. During this string of press box outings, no one could really seem to tell why the blue-liner was sitting instead of someone like Steven Kampfer, Nick Holden or even Marc Staal.

Though he returned to the lineup, Smith never returned back to “normal” after that. He notched six more points between November 17th and February 7th, before another unexpected decision was made.

Waivers and Season Ending Injury

In early February, the New York Rangers placed Brendan Smith on waivers. This was one of the most disappointing moments of a lost season for fans and members of the organization alike.

Smith was supposed to be a big part of the team this year. He was supposed to bring a sense of physicality and stand up for his teammates. Additionally, he could have served as a locker room presence for some of the younger players on the squad.

But, the next day he cleared waivers, and was sent down to the Rangers’ AHL-affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack. He was able to get 11 games under his belt there, recording two points (both assists) along the way.

Unfortunately, there’s still more to the story. In late March, Smith broke his hand in a fight with Rangers prospect Vinni Lettieri at a practice, ending his season. An injury would be hard to see on its own, but getting one in a fight with a rookie during practice? It left everyone puzzled.

What now?

For now, fans can only hope that Brendan Smith has a huge offseason, in a few different ways. First and foremost, he needs to recover from his broken hand.

From there, he needs to make sure that he comes into camp in the best shape he can be. Starting the season off on the right foot will be important since he failed to do that this past season. A new coach will have a motivated Smith that is embarrassed after such a disappointing season.

As long as camp goes well, Brendan Smith will hopefully be on the road to bouncing back for the 2018-2019 season. With the team’s defense as bad as it was this season, a return to the shot suppressing monster of the 2017 playoffs would make Smith indispensable.

Next: What went wrong with the Rangers: Window closing

After such a great performance in the 2017 playoffs, and such a big contract a few months after, it was disappointing to see this season unfold the way it did for him. However, it’s still fair to say that a big portion of this fan base is still rooting for Brendan Smith, and there’s still hope for him next year.

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