Scottish-born Canadian ice hockey player and coach
James Stephen Smith (born April 30, 1963) is a Scottish-born Canadian former professional ice hockey defenceman and former assistant coach of the Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes and Edmonton Oilers. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) from 1984–85 to 2000–01 and coached from 2010–11 to 2020–21. Currently, Smith is the interim head coach with the Hartford Wolfpack of the American Hockey League (AHL). Smith played in the 1991 All-Star game in Chicago and was part of the 1991 Canadian Team that won the Canada Cup in Toronto.
Playing career.
Smith played for the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League from 1980–81 to 1982–83 before being drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in the 1981 NHL Entry Draft in the 6th round, 111th overall. He spent his first 2 years of professional hockey (1983–84 to 1984–85) playing for the Oilers minor league affiliate teams (Moncton and Halifax). He played with the Oilers starting in the 1984–85 season. He went on to play 804 career games scoring 375 points (72-303-375) along with 2,139 penalty minutes. Smith also played in 134 Stanley Cup Playoff games, scoring 52 points (11-41-52).
Smith played for the Oilers until the end of the 1990–91 season, winning three Stanley Cups with the team. Smith remains the Oilers' single-season leader in penalty minutes with 286, which he set during the 1987–88 season. He then played for the Chicago Blackhawks until 1997. He announced his retirement due to injury following the 1996–97 season but made a comeback in 1998–99 playing parts of three seasons with the Flames, retiring for good in December 2000.
The "own goal".
Although Smith scored 83 goals in his NHL career (including 11 in the playoffs), he may be best known for a shot that went into his "own" net. On April 30, 1986, Smith's 23rd birthday, in the seventh game of the Smythe Division Final against the Calgary Flames, Calgary's Perry Berezan dumped the puck into the Edmonton zone before leaving the ice on a line change. Smith recovered the puck behind his net and intended to send it down the ice, only to accidentally bounce it off goaltender Grant Fuhr's skate and into his own net, giving the Flames a 3–2 lead. (Although he was already off the ice, Berezan was the last Flame to touch the puck and was thus credited with the goal: a rare instance of a hockey player "scoring" a goal while sitting on the bench.) The top-seeded Oilers could not get the equalizer, and thus lost the game and were eliminated from the playoffs. Many fans blamed Smith for the loss, but in his autobiography Wayne Gretzky called that opinion "a total cop-out", asserting that the Oilers should've clinched the series well before Game Seven. (As of 2023, Calgary and Edmonton have met in the Stanley Cup playoffs six times, and the 1986 tilt remains the Flames' only victory.) When the Oilers recaptured the Stanley Cup in 1987, Smith was the first player to be handed the cup from Gretzky after receiving it from NHL President John Ziegler.
Coaching career.
Smith was an assistant coach with the Flames in 1997–98. He worked as a scout with the Chicago Blackhawks before spending four seasons on the Oilers coaching staff from 2010 to 2014. He was hired as an assistant coach of the Hurricanes in June 2014, and then as the assistant coach of the Sabres in July 2018. Smith, along with head coach Ralph Krueger were relieved of their duties by the Sabres on March 17, 2021. He was then hired by the New York Rangers minor league affiliate team the Hartford Wolf Pack as an assistant coach and was named their interim head coach when Kris Knoblauch was hired to be the Edmonton Oilers' head coach.
Personal life.
Smith was born in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom, but grew up in Cobourg, Ontario and has two brothers, David and Ian.
He is married and has five children. His son, Barron Smith (born April 2, 1991), was selected by the Toronto Maple Leafs in the 7th round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft.
References.
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