Craig Smith hasn’t exactly made a habit of moving around a lot. He grew up in Madison, Wisconsin and, after a couple years of playing juniors in Iowa, stayed in Madison for college at the University of Wisconsin. Once he got to the NHL, he spent his first nine seasons with the Nashville Predators.
This offseason proved to be the right time for a change, though. Touted as one of the best values on the free agent market, Smith agreed to a three-year deal with the Bruins with an annual cap hit of $3.1 million.
Obviously, it’s a weird time to move to a new city and new team. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, Smith hasn’t been able to do much exploring around Boston. He hasn’t been able to interact with fans or hang out with his new teammates away from the rink. But from what he has been able to see and do, Smith says his first impressions of Boston and the Bruins have been nothing but positive.
“Honestly, it’s been a huge honor,” Smith said Friday. “Ever since we flattened this deal out, I couldn’t be more excited and more ecstatic. My dad was super fired up. It’s just such a historic program, and so many great players have come through here. You can see all the banners at the practice rink.
“It’s a pretty impressive setup here. You get that when you’re winning, and they certainly have done that. You walk in and you see all the Cups that they’ve won, it’s been cool. The amount of support that’s around this town, seeing hats and flags and you name it, it’s been really cool. This community really supports this team, and it’s something else to be here.”
Through the first week of training camp, Smith has consistently been on the third line with Charlie Coyle and Nick Ritchie, and he likes what he’s seen there as well.
“They’ve been unbelievable,” Smith said of his new linemates. “Coyle and Ritchie, they’re two big bodies out there that can hang onto the puck and get in and win battles, especially with Chuck in the middle there. He’s a guy that can hang onto the puck and wants to create a little bit of space. It’s been good. It’s going to take a little bit of time. We’ve seen a few days now together, but I think once we get into a game and get to see how each other react in different situations, I think that can only help.”
Smith’s new teammates say the veteran right wing is making a good first impression on them as well. Coyle said earlier this week that he used to hate playing against Smith and was happy to have him on his team and on his line now, and Ritchie echoed similar sentiments on Friday.
Coach Bruce Cassidy also likes what he’s seen from Smith so far, as well as that whole line.
“Real hard worker, conditioning, real good pro,” Cassidy said of Smith. “Off the ice, very attentive in the meetings. Wherever you go, you sort of run into some different systems and details, so he wants to make sure he gets up to speed there. On the ice, work ethic, second, third effort guy on the puck, willing to shoot, willing to go to the net.
“It can be a big line, a line with pace, a line that’s hard to play against, some physicality. Right now we like what we’ve seen from all three of them. Smith’s scored in this league, so that’s the other thing we expect to get down the road as well. Some consistent production out of that third line is what we’re anticipating, and they haven’t shown me anything different up to this point.”