Reilly Smith may have played his best game as a Pittsburgh Penguin.
I say may because he had a few really good games in that early stretch of the season, when he looked like an absolute steal from the Vegas Golden Knights.
He also may have played his last game as a Pittsburgh Penguin.
In this case, I use may as we look ahead to the NHL trade deadline on Friday. Though the Penguins have one more game (Thursday night) between now and the deadline, it’s possible the Reilly Smith era in Pittsburgh is already over.
Though the reported plans around him seem a little less concrete than that of Jake Guentzel, it’s widely anticipated that the Penguins will move Smith at the deadline.
Despite the poor season with the Penguins, Smith’s prior years and recent Stanley Cup win in Vegas will make him an appealing addition for a contending team.
Pens GM Kyle Dubas snagged Smith from the Golden Knights shortly after their championship win. Trapped in cap hell, Vegas was forced to deal with no leverage when they sent Smith to the Penguins in exchange for a third round pick.
It hasn’t worked out.
Smith had 10 goals and 16 assists in 53 games for the Penguins coming into last nigh. That 10 goal mark was particularly disappointing, considering he was supposed to be a near seamless transition from the departing Jason Zucker.
Even more troubling, 6 of his goals came in his first 10 games, making the lack of scoring even more staggering as the season has dragged on.
There’s also been the long standing rumor that he wasn’t thrilled about leaving Vegas and coming to Pittsburgh anyways.
Even though Smith has rejected that rumor as “baseless”, his body language and dejected look at times have not helped that rumor fade away.
The short-lived experiment has seemed to reach an end pass, but as the Penguins prepare to explore a trade for Smith, he did the team a huge favor in bumping up his trade value.
Recency bias is absolutely a thing when it comes to trade deadline deals. A player who is on a heater heading into the deadline might just fetch a little more in return, and in the situation like Smith and the Penguins, that could go a long way.
Smith scored a goal and added two assists on a milestone night for the forward. In the first period, he earned an assist on an Evgeni Malkin goal, which made it 2-0 for the Pens.
That assist was Smith’s 500th career point in the NHL. After the game, Smith shared a little on what that feeling was like.
“It kind of means a lot, to be honest,” he said to media after the game. “Would have been happy with one growing up. So, the time goes by fast, and you just try to enjoy every moment. It’s pretty special to get an assist on Geno’s goal for 500 as well.”
He wasn’t nearly done with this night, however. Get ready for this asinine sentence: Smith assisted on a power play goal scored by Jeff Carter.
That’s a sentence I never thought I’d say.
This goal was actually huge for the Penguins. It came less than 30 seconds after the Columbus Blue Jackets had scored a shorthanded goal to tie the game (stop me if you’ve heard that before).
Less than two minutes later, Smith would fire point blank past Blue Jackets netminder Jet Greaves, who was playing in just his fourth NHL game at 22 years old.
After Evgeni Malkin (who was a man fed up and possessed tonight) steals the puck in the corner, he whips it around to a wide open Smith, who finishes the job.
This might actually be one of my favorite goals of the season. A slap shot from ten feet out? I have to respect it. Not to mention the unlikely source it came from.
Smith did his part tonight to help the Pens, not just in the win column, but also on the trade market.
It’s a shame that we didn’t get to see this version of Reilly Smith all season long. Perhaps the year wouldn’t have become as much of a train wreck as it has.
But in any case, the return on a trade for him will be his parting gift to the organization, and a performance like the one he displayed Tuesday night might put an extra bow on that present.
Any NHL GM would watch what Smith did last night and instantly want that kind of performer on their team. It’s just a matter of if an NHL GM can disregard the few dozen games of mediocrity that came before.
If this was the last game for Smith in a Penguins uniform, it’s pretty cool he gets to go out with arguably his best game of the season. First star honors, a career milestone, and of course, that passed around white helmet. What more could a guy ask for?
(Featured photo from Getty Images)
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