Brendan Smith has proven to be a versatile player for the New York Rangers, but his time in Gotham is almost over
We continue our series of New York Rangers report cards. As we continue with the defensemen, we’ll look back at last season and provide some expectations for the coming season.
Brendan Smith: Grade C
Mention Brendan Smith and the reaction will usually be negative. The reason is mostly the four-year, $17.4 million contract he signed in 2017. Only an all-star performance could have made that deal look good and when he showed up at training camp the first year out of shape, it was a disaster.
It seems like he has nine lives as he has dodged trades, buyouts and the minor leagues each year. Now, he is going into the last year of that contract and unless he is willing to come back for the NHL minimum, he won’t be a Ranger in 2021-22.
How did he do it? Since David Quinn became coach, Smith has been a useful and versatile player, splitting his time between the blueline and fourth line wing. It kept him from a premature end to his Ranger career and despite a propensity for bad penalties and the occasional bonehead play, he still played in 62 games last season.
Smith has seen his playing time decrease every season yet after the trade deadline he was playing regularly on the first defensive pair with Jacob Trouba. It was just another season where he did everything he was asked to do, with the big issue that he was overpaid.
His season
Brendan Smith spent the first two thirds of the season in the same role he filled the prior year. He played as a fourth line winger and killed penalties on defense. He didn’t do excel at either, but he also wasn’t a disaster.
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Although he was 20th on the team in average ice time (11:06), he was seventh in hits with 90. He scored three goals and added five assists for eight points. His plus/minus was -12, third worst on the team. Smith has been a decent possession player his entire career, but this season his Corsi For percentage was 43.6, the worst rating of his career
At even strength, Smith had 22 giveaways and 13 takeaways. One thing that Smith does is draw penalties. He drew 17 penalties, fifth best on the team.
On a team that was lacking in physicality, Brendan Smith did fill that role. He tied Brendan Lemieux for team lead with five fighting majors. He was second on the team with 71 penalty minutes. He was one of two Rangers to get game misconducts (Trouba was the other).
Here’s an example of the issue with Brendan Smith. On February 3, the Rangers took on the Dallas Stars at Madison Square Garden. The Blueshirts jumped out to a lead on a Pavel Buchnevich goal and were off to a good start at home against a good team. Then, Smith took an absolutely needless penalty, interfering with Corey Perry to give the Stars the power play. You can guess what happened next. Joe Pavelski scored with the man advantage, momentum shifted and the Rangers lost 5-3. Smith was on the fourth line as a winger and played only 5:38, but the damage was done.
You want another one? Watch this play from the 2018-19 season.
It’s a classic Smith play. He has possession of the puck, but coughs it up under pressure and it leads to a Detroit goal.
When the Rangers traded Brady Skjei, Quinn automatically moved Smith up to the top pair. They had the option of promoting Libor Hajek from Hartford or using Ryan Lindgren or Marc Staal, but Smith was the answer.
The general consensus was that when he played with Trouba on the top pair he did well. That’s relative. The reality is he played at about the same level as his predecessor, Brady Skjei. The pair allowed about the same number of high danger scoring chances and goals. At even strength, the Smith/Trouba pair had virtually the same possession stats as the Skjei/Trouba duo.
The numbers
Games: 62
Goals: 3
Assists: 5
Points: 8
Plus/Minus: -12
PIMs: 71
Blocked shots: 41
Hits: 90
ATOI: 11:06
Corsi–for: 43.6%
Postseason: Smith played with Trouba on the first pair in the three game sweep by Carolina. Of all the Rangers, Smith had one of the best performances in the series. He led the team with 16 hits and five blocked shots. He was scoreless, but his -1 rating was better than Trouba, Staal and DeAngelo.
Why the Grade?
Why the grade? One word. Versatility. The fact that Smith was able to play forward or defense when called upon and that he was will to mix it up, gives Smith an average rating. As a fourth line winger he gets D, as a defender he rates a C+, mostly because of his play in the Stanley Cup Qualifier. For $4.35 million a year, that’s just not good enough.
Expectations
It’s interesting how Smith was able to raise his stock after the Qualifier. There was appreciation for his physical play and his team leading hits total. It was reminiscent of his performance in the 2017 playoffs loss to Ottawa that resulted in the big contract.
We should know better. In this case it looks to be a case of Smith exceeding what were very mediocre expectations. John Davidson has made it clear that he wasn’t happy with the penalty kill last season and that is a negative for Smith who will be replaced in that role by Jack Johnson.
The 2021 season will be an interesting farewell tour for Brendan Smith. He will be going to training camp as one of the favorites to return to the top pairing with Trouba. His primary competition will be Tony Bitetto, Libor Hajek and K’Andre Miller. There’s a chance that the team will experiment by moving right-shots Tony DeAngelo or Adam Fox to the left side to play with Trouba.
In a shortened season there won’t be much time for experimenting and it remains to be seen if David Quinn will opt to try these other options or if he will go for the known combination from last year. If he goes with Smith, it could be a long season.