Last night, after the Pittsburgh Penguins clipped the Detroit Red Wings 6-3 at home, I tweeted out my thoughts on Reilly Smith’s game as of late.
As has been told before, Smith had an incredibly hot start to the season for the Penguins, but cooled off in a hurry and never recovered.
The winger was acquired for a third round pick last summer in Kyle Dubas’ first trade as Penguins general manager. At the time, it looked like a steal, prying a 26-goal scorer away from the cap strapped Stanley Cup champions.
However, rumor quickly spread that Smith was unhappy about leaving Vegas and joining Pittsburgh. Those largely subsided when he was productive, but after that early ten game stretch, those began to swirl again.
From his 11th game of the season all the way up until the trade deadline, Smith recorded just 5 goals and 13 assists in 45 games. He was a ghost most nights, and what had once looked like a steal had turned into an anchor for the team.
His $5 million salary suddenly became a hefty overpayment for the Penguins, and as the season faltered and the Penguins slipped below the playoff line, Dubas seemed very open to moving Smith at the deadline.
While his production was still low, Smith was a desirable add for contending or playoff hopeful teams. The Penguins reportedly got several calls on Smith, even as he put on a three point performance against Columbus just days before the deadline, but his high salary was too much to bring in for any team looking to make a run.
Understandably, the Penguins weren’t all that willing to retain salary on Smith, given that he is under contract for next year as well.
And so, he stayed, presumably against his better wishes. Even though Smith has previously rejected the rumor that he isn’t happy here, his body language and overall lack of flare has put fuel to the fire still.
However, as of late, Smith has seemed to turn around his game a little. Smith is on his first three game point streak since the fourth game of the season all the way back on October 18th.
In the third period of Thursday’s bobblehead-less game against the San Jose Sharks, Smith tallied an assist on John Ludvig’s third period goal. That goal put the Penguins in the lead for the first time on the night in an eventual 6-3 win.
On this play, Smith had nice work digging the puck out of the corner. He skated behind the net, then threw it to P.O. Joseph on the point, who shoveled it to Ludvig for the score.
On Saturday, Smith also recorded an assist against the New York Rangers. As the Penguins were down 6-3 in the third period, Smith set up Valtteri Puustinen for his third of the season.
Smith took a pass from Lars Eller, which sprang him on a two-on-one with Puustinen. As they charge toward the net, Smith makes a nice pass for Puustinen to bury it, and (at the time) keep the Penguins in the game.
And yesterday, Smith put up a goal and an assist against the Red Wings.
He scored the game’s opening goal on a redirection from Marcus Pettersson. This is unlike a lot of play that we have seen from Smith this season, but on this goal he was a net front presence and got rewarded big time.
This goal came literally a half a second after the Penguins’ power play expired, and so even though it doesn’t count on the score sheet as a power play goal, I’m going to count it as one for him. That was his second power play goal* on the season, and his first since November 4th.
He also assisted on another Puustinen goal, making a pass from behind the net to an open Puustinen, who absolutely rifled it past the Detroit goalie for Pittsburgh’s third goal in the first period.
Interestingly enough, Smith’s recent resurgence has come as his ice time has dropped in recent games. Over his last three games, the same amount as his point streak, Smith is averaging 13:08 a night. During the rest of the season, he has averaged 16:16 a night.
This coincides with the Penguins forming a new third line consisting of Smith, Puustinen, and Lars Eller at center. This line has resulted in multiple points for Smith, despite the line only playing their second real game on Sunday.
The new Smith-Eller-Puustinen line created some magic for the Penguins this weekend. They already have a strong endorsement from former Pens player and current Pens broadcaster Colby Armstrong, who said during the game Sunday “If you’re not falling in love with this line, I don’t know if you’ll ever fall in love.”
I don’t know if I’ll ever find love, Colby, but I am certainly loving this line.
It puts the best of all three players together. And it opens up a productive streak in Smith we haven’t seen since the opening few weeks.
If the theory that Smith was unhappy in Pittsburgh was true, it’s also possible that Smith has found a new will to play given that the trade deadline has passed and he is…still in Pittsburgh.
Follow me here: there’s no more time waiting for a potential move to a new team (or the desperate hope for a Vegas return), so he might as well buckle up and try to get his team into the playoffs.
There’s also the added desire to show out for the rest of the season, and hopefully up his value enough that a team will be calling for him in the offseason.
Smith will be easier to trade in the summer, when he has one year left at his $5 million cap hit, and the better he plays down the stretch, the more likely he gets moved.
(Featured photo by Chase Agnello-Dean/NHLI via Getty Images)
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