The veteran Ottawa Senators forward was placed on waivers Tuesday.
Smith has three years remaining on the four-year contract he signed with Ottawa in January 2017, and the deal carries a cap hit of $3.25 million.
Smith could still be traded with the Senators retaining some of his salary, as suggested by Sportsnet's Chris Johnston. Failing that, he could remain with Ottawa at the NHL level, or be assigned to the Senators' AHL affiliate.
For the time being, he's sticking with the big club. Ottawa head coach Guy Boucher told reporters, including TSN's Brent Wallace, that Smith will play Thursday night against the Chicago Blackhawks on a line with Mark Stone and Brady Tkachuk.
The 30-year-old has spent his entire nine-plus season career with the organization, scoring 85 goals and 165 points while racking up 612 penalty minutes in 542 games.
He contributed five goals and 19 points last season.
For as long as the NHL's been around, debates about which players are better than others have almost always centered around goals and assists, accolades like Stanley Cup rings and Hart Trophies, intangibles like toughness and leadership, and more recently, gateway advanced statistics like Corsi and expected goals.
But what if you could take a deep dive into whether Connor McDavid is really better than Sidney Crosby using previously unknown comparison points like passes to the slot, offense off the cycle, and respect rating? And, what if these new player measurements not only helped decide arguments at the bar, but also dramatically altered how NHL franchises value players, and how those players evaluate themselves?
Well, these data points - and many others - may be available to hockey fans on a large scale as early as next year. NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly confirmed to theScore that a full rollout of player and puck tracking is penciled in to debut during the 2019-20 season.
The league has flirted with this new world since 2015, when it slapped microchips onto jerseys and inside two-piece pucks for All-Star weekend. Now, it feels like a breakthrough is imminent.
Research and development - most notably, the daunting task of finding the ideal technological method for tracking a free-flowing sport like hockey - has been ongoing behind the scenes, and will continue over the course of the upcoming season.
It will be a significant step forward for the NHL, as it joins the NBA, NFL, and MLB in the pursuit of tracking data that will both grow the game and help better understand it. Advanced stats, which are currently based on play-by-play and time-on-ice feeds pulled from NHL.com, have already altered the landscape. Tracking is expected to have an even greater impact on the sport.
The NHL data boom is coming. Below are the details on how it will work, and its potential impact on the game.
How does player/puck tracking work?
In August, Montreal-based Sportlogiq became the "official data supplier" of the Swedish Hockey League, meaning it will be the exclusive provider of advanced stats to SHL teams, broadcasters, and sports betting partners until 2021.
Sportlogiq already has a strong foothold in the NHL, as it works with 27 of 31 teams on various projects while appearing on select broadcasts. Though CEO Craig Buntin declined comment when asked about the potential for an SHL-type agreement with the NHL, let’s use the company - a major player in the marketplace - as an entry point into this subtopic.
Buntin's team has developed a platform that logs hundreds of on-ice events through an optical tracking system. This camera-based approach is able to identify the whereabouts of every player, the puck, and the lines on the ice. The framework is then fed to artificial intelligence, which records movements, tagging any and all relevant hockey events. Players and their interactions with each other and the puck can be assessed in a three-dimensional format for estimations on spacing, angles, and the like.
Sportlogiq tracking in the SHL / Screenshot via Sportlogiq
The cameras and AI work in unison over the course of a game, repeating the same steps thousands of times. Every breakout pass, every deke, every dump-in - all of the minutiae baked into every play - is cataloged, approved by a Sportlogiq employee, and then filed into a database.
Hypothetically, if the NHL adopts this type of technology, we'll be able to quantify any number of on-ice happenings - like, for example, Crosby’s ability to create time and space for his teammates, long considered one of his greatest gifts.
"He does so much good work down low and along the boards. How far does the weak-side (opposing) winger in the slot shade toward Crosby's side of the ice and does that present new opportunities for Pittsburgh to activate its D?" wondered Ryan Stimson, a prominent voice in the hockey analytics community.
"Are they stacking or are they bull-rushing him or are they boxing him out?" added Christopher Boucher, Sportlogiq's director of hockey operations. "That’s where we're headed on the defensive side of the puck."
What else can tracking teach us?
Stimson, who covers the Sabres for The Athletic and grew up cheering for the Devils, is among a group of fans who for the past few years have manually tracked slot passes, rebound shots, one-timers, and other underreported events.
Yes, there's such a thirst for new hockey data that people are pausing games to collect info - known as micro-statistics - essentially assuming the role of Sportlogiq. At their core, micro-stats are granular pieces of information that inform us on the process rather than the result. They capture what contributed to a goal, a shot, or a shot attempt.
"The reason I got into it is because I wanted to figure out how good of a passer Patrik Elias was," Stimson said of the longtime Devils star. "He was so, so good for so long. What’s the reason for that?"
McDavid's speed on Sportsnet broadcast / Screenshot via YouTube
It’s possible fans will soon have access to data like McDavid’s top speed, Shea Weber's slap-shot velocity, Erik Karlsson’s stretch-pass success rate, and Mathew Barzal’s nightly puck control. Within proper context, those can be very useful numbers, and another tool in the toolbox for analysis ranging from trivial and fun to in-depth and serious.
"For every interesting observation, another question or two is raised," Stimson said.
For instance, is Zach Hyman truly a great puck-retriever for his more skilled Maple Leafs linemates, or does the data suggest he’s merely league average? Does Tom Wilson hurt the Capitals by taking himself out of position to deliver big hits, or does the data hint that opponents act abnormally when he's in their vicinity?
Understanding and articulating what makes certain role players effective (or ineffective) is an area ripe for picking.
"Which players are good at simple things like moving the puck up the ice with possession, entering the offensive zone with control, and creating a scoring chance off that?” Boucher added rhetorically.
On the team side, a similar exercise may arise from these initial questions. For example, how often did the 2017-18 Islanders defend against two-on-ones and three-on-twos? Was that a quantifiably weak point for New York or was something else at the core of the team's dead-last defense?
That kind of inquiry can lead to better-informed fans, media, and hockey operations employees. We're already seeing the value of tracking in other leagues, although its overall day-to-day impact depends on the data's availability. (Case in point: The NBA has a tiered system in which some data is available to the public free of charge, more is behind a paywall, and the rest is exclusive to teams and select media outlets.)
Second Spectrum data on NBA broadcast / Screenshot via YouTube
Tracking in basketball has already outed the game's most frequent complainers and laziest All-Stars, while the overall swing in shot selection (3-pointers over long twos) can be at least partially attributed to the rise of analytics. Meanwhile, in baseball, outfielders have never gotten so much love thanks to catch probability and other new data highlighting the crazy athleticism and smarts required to play the position.
Storytelling, whether through traditional media, new media, social media, or a brand, has changed over the past decade and will continue to evolve across the next 10 years. The emergence of well-sourced statistical analysis (with the level of acceptance varying from sport to sport) is a gigantic reason why.
Corsi, expected goals, PDO, high-danger save percentage, and primary points per 60 minutes are only the beginning for hockey.
What does this mean for players?
Based on a handful of interviews, NHL players don't appear too high or too low on the implementation of player and puck tracking.
Most of them are vaguely aware of which data is capable of being churned out. Quite frankly, though, it’s probably not in their best interest to consume micro-stats on a regular basis. After all, they're paid to play hockey; not to analyze it the way a coaching staff and front office must.
"I don’t know much about it. I don’t really think about it much," Leafs defenseman Morgan Rielly said. "As a player, I think you should focus more on whatever you can do to help your team, rather than your own personal advanced stats."
Puck, chip for World Cup of Hockey / Getty Images
A source within the NHLPA said the union supports player and puck tracking and sees it as a way to grow the game, as long as player rights are maintained. It's not a surprising stance - if all goes according to plan, tracking will generate hockey-related revenue to be split 50-50 between the league and its players' association. (And hey, who wouldn’t be excited about fewer goal reviews?)
"I don’t think it’s going to stop," Ducks forward Adam Henrique - who's quick to point out he's no analytics wiz - said of modern stats. "It’s going to be progressing and moving forward and everybody is going to try to find ways to grow the game, stats-wise. I think that’s part of the interest for fans. There's so many more advanced stats to look at. There's so much more detail that can go into the game for the viewer."
The NHL hasn't decided if it will use cameras or microchips - or both - to collect player data (the puck will almost certainly be chipped). If the league chooses the wearables route, or to mix wearables and optical tech, the players' union will be part of the discussion.
"I wouldn’t say we're leaning one way or the other yet. Both are viable options," Daly said of the league’s preferred tech. "We have a base level of knowledge where we can look at the strengths and weaknesses of both and try to find the right technology for us that is a more permanent technology."
So far, the league's encountered a number of roadblocks during its transition from testing at All-Star Games and the 2016 World Cup of Hockey to full-scale implementation.
One such roadblock is cost; the 2015 All-Star Game's chipped pucks were priced at more than $200 apiece. Another is accurate data; false starting would be a public relations nightmare. A third is the tech; if wearables are the way to go, the chips must be non-invasive for players.
The IIHF used cameras and chips earlier this year at both the Olympics and the World Hockey Championship, revealing skating distance, passing efficiency, and other micro-stats. Several players were perplexed and unsure of the staying power of the underlying numbers. Former NHLer and U.S. Olympian James Wisniewski went as far as saying, "It's just all cons. There’s nothing (positive) for a player ... All this is going to do is hurt you."
There's bound to be similar pushback in 2019 when tracking is rolled out for the NHL, especially from older players fighting for contracts. The league is trending incredibly young, with 30-year-olds looking over their shoulders a lot more than they might have in the past. Insert unbecoming data - such as poor speed or zone-entry numbers - and all of a sudden public perception wanes even further.
Offers could dry up. That 34-year-old third-pairing defenseman could be out of the league at 33 instead. For every player whose profile will be raised by tracking data, there's another whose will sag.
What’s the master plan?
Five years ago, there was a buzz around the NHL and its acceptance of advanced stats. The so-called Summer of Analytics had spit out multiple high-profile hockey ops hires - including Kyle Dubas (Leafs), Tyler Dellow (Oilers), and Sunny Mehta (Devils) - and it signaled a change of course ahead of the 2014-15 season.
Since then, there's been a steady climb up the mountain, with NHL teams, fans, and media members digging into analytics from various angles. Yet public access to ceiling-shattering data has remained out of reach - for now.
"We think unlocking this technology can certainly enhance the fan experience and the broadcast experience around our game and that will be to the benefit of the league, of the clubs, and of the players," Daly said.
Added Boucher: "What you’re seeing in the public sphere is results-based - shots and so on. It's great data, it's great insights and it's great work, but obviously the data set is limited in terms of what you can look at. What we offer is more (information about) the process."
iPad on Vancouver Canucks bench / Getty Images
In the grand scheme of things, we can't forget about the other type of tracking: biometric. The vast majority of NHL teams are already hooked on this evaluation method, working with sports science giant Catapult to collect health data from vests that players wear under their equipment during practice.
As a byproduct of sports science's explosion within the pro ranks, biometric data can elicit insights about fatigue, injury prevention, and more. However, wearing a vest, or a heart-rate monitor, is not mandatory for players right now.
Meanwhile, Daly said the league has no intention of making health info available to the public.
"I don't view biometric data, for the most part, to be something that we would ever utilize to enhance a fan experience, for instance, or a broadcast experience," he said. "I think that's much more personal to the players."
Meanwhile, player and puck tracking data, which sticks to hockey stats, is free game. And, while its potential applications seem endless, there are unknown aspects to consider as we wait for the polished product to be unveiled.
Will hockey’s frenetic pace and the interdependency between players water down tracking data and its effectiveness? This is not baseball, where there’s a batter, a pitcher, and time stands still. It's a completely different environment. Can the NHL tap into innovative tech that helps negate these potential issues?
Buntin thinks so.
"They’re looking at an optical solution combined with some hardware and I believe wholeheartedly that it is the most forward-thinking solution that I've seen in any league," the Sportlogiq CEO said.
The big-picture outlook features an opportunity to attract different, more statistically inclined fans, and to further engage the existing audience. For example, real-time analytics would improve in-game gambling by leaps and bounds. Puck possession and time on ice would be automated, not estimated, offering a baseline for improvements in available data.
In other words - for a league that's catching up in the data realm and on the global development stage, in general - the master plan is still being written.
"I think were all on the same page," Henrique said of the league and union, "where we all want to grow the game as much as possible."
John Matisz is theScore's national hockey writer. You can find him on Twitter @matiszjohn.
Leading up to the start of the 2018-19 season, theScore will be counting down the top 100 players in the game today, as voted on by four of our NHL editors. We'll reveal 10 players every weekday until the top 10 is unveiled on Oct. 3.
After missing the majority of the 2016-17 season, Quick bounced back in a big way, posting a 2.40 goals-against average and a .921 save percentage - his highest mark since 2012. He did so in front of a middling Kings offense. Meanwhile, he also had the fifth-highest goals saved above average in the league.-- Hagerman
59. Ryan O'Reilly, Blues
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
42
59
59
80
O'Reilly is arguably the most underrated player in hockey. He had two penalty minutes, an excellent takeaway/giveaway ratio, set an NHL record for faceoff wins, and drove possession at a 50.7 percent rate last season despite starting the bulk of his shifts in the defensive end. He served as the matchup center on a poor Sabres team and still managed 61 points. -- Wegman
58. Sean Monahan, Flames
Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
57
69
56
58
One of the game's more underappreciated two-way centers, Monahan has averaged 29 goals and nearly 33 assists over the last four seasons, and the 23-year-old already has five NHL campaigns under his belt. Even more impressive is the fact that he was his typically productive self in 2017-18 despite playing through a multitude of injuries. -- Gold-Smith
57. Shayne Gostisbehere, Flyers
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
67
51
54
62
Gostisbehere bounced back from a troublesome sophomore season with a terrific 2017-18, ranking fourth among all blue-liners with 65 points in 78 games. The 25-year-old quarterbacks one of the leagues best power plays and his $4.5-million cap hit until 2023 is looking like a mighty fine bargain for the Flyers. -- O'Leary
56. Carey Price, Canadiens
Minas Panagiotakis / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
86
45
45
55
Price wasn't himself last season, that much is a given. So with that, his usual ranking dropped, but when healthy, it's still hard to argue that Price isn't among the top five goalies in the world. -- Hagerman
55. Jakub Voracek, Flyers
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
91
46
42
48
Voracek is an excellent passer who established career highs with 65 assists and 85 points last season. The Flyers winger often benefits from playing with talented linemates, but he has plenty of skill in his own right. Voracek could stand to score more, but he makes up for that with his playmaking abilities. -- Gold-Smith
54. Ryan Ellis, Predators
Christian Petersen / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
41
55
66
59
Ellis missed the first half of last season after undergoing offseason knee surgery and returned to play the best hockey of his life, racking up nine goals and 23 assists in 44 games, which would've put him on pace for a 60-point year over a full season. With a clean bill of health, look for the 27-year-old to continue to blossom into one of the game's most well-rounded blue-liners. -- Wegman
53. Mark Stone, Senators
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
52
38
67
60
Since 2014-15, Stone ranks seventh among all right-wingers with 241 points, and his career-best 1.07 points per game last season indicates he has even more to give on offense. Factored in with his defensive prowess - he ranked fourth at his position with 59 takeaways in 2017-18 - he's one of the most complete players in the game. -- O'Leary
52. John Klingberg, Stars
Bruce Bennett / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
53
53
51
56
Klingberg is further proof that Sweden pumps out the top offensive defensemen in the NHL. The 26-year-old had a monstrous 2018, posting career highs in assists (59) and points (67) - one back of John Carlson for the most among any defenseman in the league. -- Hagerman
51. Connor Hellebuyck, Jets
Wegman
O'Leary
Gold-Smith
Hagerman
62
54
49
50
Hellebuyck is just hitting his stride at age 25, posting a .931 save percentage at 5-on-5 last regular season, according to Corsica, along with a respectable .922 mark at 5-on-5 in the playoffs while helping the Winnipeg Jets reach the Western Conference Final. He appeared in 84 games combined in 2017-18, but he's proven he can shoulder the heavy load. -- Gold-Smith
Longtime NHL forward Chris Stewart inked a one-year contract with Slovakian club Slovan Bratislava in the KHL, the team announced Wednesday.
Stewart finished last season with the Calgary Flames, scoring a goal and chipping in a pair of assists in seven games after being claimed on waivers from the Minnesota Wild.
He was a first-round pick of the Avalanche in 2006, and had his best season with Colorado in 2009-10, pouring in 28 goals and 36 assists before adding three more goals in six playoff appearances.
Broken Goblet Brewing announced that it will be releasing a cream ale called "Nightmare Fuel" in honor of Gritty, who was introduced to the hockey world Monday.
The Flyers' website describes Gritty as "loyal but mischievous; the ultimate Flyers fan who loves the orange and black, but is unwelcoming to anyone who opposes his team."
Capitals head coach Todd Reirden wouldn't confirm this, but hinted towards such last week.
"He’s still trying to get to the level where he was at last year, and until he does, it doesn’t do us any good as a team or for him to be playing in games," Reirden said.
When asked if Smith-Pelly would be ready for the season opener on Oct. 3, Reirden said it's "day to day in terms of how he's progressing."
This isn't the first time Smith-Pelly has dealt with conditioning issues. Capitals general manager Brian MacLellan said heading into last year's training camp that Smith-Pelly's conditioning level and work ethic was "a little inconsistent." Former Canadiens head coach Michel Therrien also publicly called him out for the same issues during his tenure in Montreal, according to The Athletic's Arpon Basu.
Smith-Pelly doesn't seem to think his absence from preseason action will be an issue once the games count.
"It was a short summer," Smith-Pelly said last week, according to Khurshudyan. "I'm not going to make any excuse or anything, but a short summer, a little different. … I don't think it's really a story. I don’t think it's really a thing. I think Todd would probably tell you the same thing. It's not really a big deal. I'm doing what I have to do to be ready for when it really matters."
Smith-Pelly was sensational during Washington's run to the Stanley Cup last spring, potting seven goals in 24 postseason games, including a remarkable game-tying tally in the Game 5 clincher.
The 26-year-old signed a one-year, $1-million contract with the Capitals this summer.
Arizona Coyotes forward Alex Galchenyuk is week to week with a lower-body injury and is expected to miss the club's season opener, the team announced Tuesday.
Galchenyuk suffered the injury in the club's preseason tilt against the Los Angeles Kings on Sept. 18. The 24-year-old is getting set for his first season with the Coyotes after being acquired from the Montreal Canadiens in June in exchange for Max Domi.
The Coyotes will open the 2018-19 season on Oct. 4 against the Dallas Stars.
As a new season nears, a number of players prepare to chase history.
Here are five players who have the opportunity to reach career milestones, and in some cases, cement their place among the game's best.
Thornton on edge of 400
Ezra Shaw / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Arguably the best passer of this generation, Joe Thornton is about to eclipse a goal-scoring milestone. With just three more tallies, Thornton will reach the 400-goal mark, becoming the 96th player in NHL history to do so - if he gets there before another player on this list.
That's not the only record in reach for the big center. With 40 points, he can pass both Teemu Selanne and Stan Mikita for 14th on the all-time list, and if he manages to collect 34 assists, he'll move up four spots - passing Mario Lemieux, Marcel Dionne, Gordie Howe, and Steve Yzerman - for the eighth-most all time.
Malkin's pursuit of 1,000
Another strong campaign from Evgeni Malkin should see the Russian sniper eclipse the 1,000-point plateau.
The 32-year-old needs 70 points to hit the milestone. That would be a tall order for most players, but Malkin has failed to reach 70 points only three times in his career, and each of those seasons saw him limited due to injuries.
If Malkin can put up 30 goals, he will also reach the 400-goal mark.
Luongo climbing the all-time wins list
Joel Auerbach / Getty Images Sport / Getty
Florida Panthers netminder Roberto Luongo currently sits fourth on the all-time wins list, but he should leapfrog another legendary goaltender for the third spot.
With 14 wins, Luongo will move ahead of Ed Belfour.
While he was limited to just 35 games last season, Luongo put up strong numbers, rocking a .929 save percentage and a 2.47 goals-against average.
Luongo should have no trouble moving into third place, but it remains to be seen whether he has enough in the tank to one day challenge Patrick Roy and his 551 wins for second.
Staal joins Thornton at 400
The pressure will be on Thornton to be the first player this season to reach 400 career goals.
Minnesota Wild forward Eric Staal is also in the hunt for 400 and needs just five goals to do so.
Staal has enjoyed a reawakening in his short time in Minnesota. Over the last two seasons, he's tallied 70 goals, including 42 last season, which were just three fewer than his career high he set back in 2006.
Lundqvist following in Luongo's footsteps
Abbie Parr / Getty Images Sport / Getty
While Luongo will be focused on reaching third in goalie wins, Henrik Lundqvist will also be looking to make a jump up the all-time ranks.
The New York Rangers netminder currently sits eighth all time with 431 career wins, so with 24 victories, he would overtake Jacques Plante, Terry Sawchuk, and Curtis Joseph for fifth.
Last season, Lundqvist recorded 26 victories, which were the fewest he's managed in a full 82-game season in his career.
