TORONTO - The first three rounds of the annual NHL Entry Draft can be an agonizing period of time for players slotted high in the NHL Central Scouting Service’s Final Rankings. As names are called out, invariably there will be those who are left available well below where they were projected to be selected prompting questions of, “How come?” and “Where did I go wrong?” Usually highly ranked players will eventually be taken at some point but a big drop can easily leave some already nervous young players starting off their journeys into professional hockey on a negative note.
For St. Michael’s Buzzers forward Reilly Smith, the stress of falling further back in the draft was never an issue. In fact, ranked at 158th overall among North American skaters in the NHL Central Scouting Service’s 2009 Final Rankings, Smith, who was optimistically hoping to be selected during the fifth round, took a huge jump in the right direction when his name was called in the third round, 69th overall by the Dallas Stars.
“Absolutely,” said Smith, the third of three brothers to go through the St. Michael’s Buzzers organization, when asked if he was surprised to be selected that high in the draft. “Basically I was on a “need-to-know” basis with my family advisor and my family. I didn’t want to hear what anyone had to say because if someone tells you that you’re going to get drafted really high like in the second or third round, I didn’t think that was going to be possible for me and I didn’t want to raise my expectations.”
In the end, Smith’s lifelong dream came true earlier than expected.
“When I heard my name get called in that 69th pick in the third round, I was just, I don’t know what to say, it was surreal.”
Surreal indeed for Smith who explained the first five minutes after hearing his name called out were virtually a blur.
“It’s tough to think, the first five minutes after the Stars called my name, I don’t think I even took one breath; I was just in that much shock,” he said.
After having several positive meetings with the Stars organization prior to the draft including one with Director of Amateur Scouting Tim Bernhardt and a three hour session with Stars’ Sports Physiologist Dr. Scot McFadden, Smith can certainly feel good about the Stars willingness to select him much higher than he was projected be taken, likely indicating there were other teams interested and that the Stars were worried he may slip through their hands by waiting any longer.
“It shows the Stars have a lot of faith in me and that’s a great morale booster,” said Smith, who earned the St. Michael’s Buzzers “Team MVP Award” for his outstanding 2008-2009 campaign. “I had a really good interview and another good meeting with them and they told me that they had three picks within the first three rounds and that’s when they were planning on taking me but it’s tough to believe that when you’re ranked so low on the Central Scouting list.”
The accomplishment of getting selected in the NHL Entry Draft, one which only two hundred and ten players worldwide can lay claim to each year, marked the culmination of a rapid ascent for Smith onto NHL radar being selected as the 69th best draft eligible player in the world after getting into only thirteen Junior A games as a sixteen year old in 2007-2008.
“Yeah, when you say it like that, it really sounds like a dream come true but the last year and a half has kind of been like a whirlwind, getting my confidence to a point where I never thought I’d have it,” said Smith.
When former National Hockey League player and American Hockey League Calder Cup winning Assistant Coach Cam Stewart arrived midway through September to guide the Buzzers behind the bench, Smith was given an opportunity to contribute and never looked back, consistently improving as the year went on.
“Reilly’s potential just jumps right out at you,” explained Stewart. “He can skate, he’s over six feet, you look at his dad, you look at his brothers, the kid can score, he wants to play hockey, he works hard, he listens, he’s easy to coach, the writing is on the wall here. I can’t say enough good things about him.”
It is safe to say Cam Stewart was not at all surprised to see Smith jump up into the third round.
“A lot of team’s were asking me what I thought and I said, ‘He’d be a steal in the fifth round, he’s at least a third rounder’ and then I asked a lot of the teams, ‘Who were your last five third rounder’s?’ and most said, ‘I don’t know’ and that’s exactly my point,” said Stewart, recalling some discussions with scouts throughout the past season. “You might as well take a flyer on a kid who’s going to a great school and has just an upside. He doesn’t have a downside. When you look, some kids might not be able to skate as well, some kids might be too small, and you know what, he’s got none of those flaws.”
With all of Stewart’s expertise and knowledge at his disposal, Smith integrated many of his coach’s suggestions into his game and credited his former coach for a big part in his development.
“I have to thank my coach from last year Cam Stewart,” Smith insisted. “Everything he did for me, he gave me so much opportunity and showed so much faith in me. He helped my game probably more than any other coach.”
Next season, Smith will compete in the NCAA at the Division I level with the Miami University Redhawks. Following a meeting with Stars’ management after being selected, Smith said he came away with a clear indication of which areas of his game the Stars would like him to work at improving.
“Basically the aspect of maturing physically is the most important for me right now but also to just keep on doing everything that I’m doing, excelling and moving in the right direction,” he said.
Though Reilly was surprised to hear his name called earlier than expected in the third round, another member of the Smith clan, Reilly’s brother Brendan, himself an NHL draft pick (1st round, 27th overall to the Detroit Red Wings in 2007), predicted when Reilly would be selected.
“He (Brendan) told my parents that I was going to get drafted in the early part of the third round so he’s been bragging about that,” laughed Reilly.
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