Ty Smith hadn't been thinking much during training camp about the possibility that he could end up in the AHL this season.
"I was just trying to play hockey," Smith told me after Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's game on Friday.
Smith, 22, was one of nine NHL-caliber defensemen on the Penguins' roster during training camp, and the Penguins needed to trim that group down in order to get under the salary cap's upper limit. In the days leading up to the deadline for season-opening rosters, the Penguins got that group down to eight by putting Mark Friedman on waivers and re-assigning him to Wilkes-Barre once he cleared. The final move the Penguins made to get cap-compliant was sending Smith down too, a decision impacted in part by Smith being the lone waivers-exempt option on the roster.
It was the first time Smith had ever been sent to the AHL in his career, having spent the previous two full seasons in the NHL with New Jersey.
"When it happened, maybe I was a bit surprised," Smith said. "But at the same time, obviously, the guys there are all really good players and they all had good camps."
When I asked Mike Sullivan the following day about Smith's re-assignment, he made sure to note that the roster wasn't "etched in stone," and that they could be fluid based on performance.
"We expect Ty to continue to grow and develop his overall game, whether it's here or in Wilkes-Barre," Sullivan said. "We'll monitor his progress. We have open lines of communication with (Wilkes-Barre head coach J.D. Forrest) and his staff down there."
While Smith's waiver-exempt status played a role in the decision to send him down to the minors, it wasn't the only factor. The Penguins liked what they saw from Smith offensively in the preseason -- there's no doubt that he's skilled in that regard. But in order to become a full-time NHL player again, the coaching staff wants him to get stronger defensively.
"We have a lot of respect for Ty and his game," Sullivan said at the time. "It's one of the reasons why he was actually acquired. He's a young defenseman with a lot of upside. We really like his offensive game, we like his offensive instincts. We know he has an opportunity to grow on the defensive side of the puck, and we're going to do our very best to help him there."
Smith has made a good impression on Wilkes-Barre's coaching staff through the first week of the AHL's regular season.
Wilkes-Barre is two and a half games into the regular season -- they lost 3-2 to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms in overtime in the season opener last Saturday, then were trailing the Utica Comets 2-1 late in the second period on Monday when a power outage caused the remainder of the game to be postponed until January. The Penguins won Friday's game against the Laval Rocket on Friday by a score of 2-1.
Smith has skated on the left side of the Penguins' top pairing in all three games, with Friedman playing on the right side. He's quarterbacking Wilkes-Barre's top power play unit and has a goal and two primary assists, giving him a point-per-game pace to start the season.
Smith's first point was the helper on Sam Poulin's goal to force overtime in the final minute of regulation in the season-opener. Wilkes-Barre had goaltender Dustin Tokarski pulled in favor of the extra attacker, and Smith took a shot that bounced off the crossbar before being knocked in by Poulin. It came after a series of shot attempts from various Penguins players on the ice that were set up by Smith playing quarterback up at the blue line:
Smith had the lone Penguins goal in Monday's game before the power outage delayed the game. It was a rocket of a shot:
Smith set up Alex Nylander's power play goal on Friday to open the scoring against Laval. Earlier in the power play, Smith had to backcheck after a Drew O'Connor turnover led to a shorthanded Rocket rush up the other direction. Smith helped break up the opportunity then had the breakout pass to Valtteri Puustinen:
"He's been great since he's been here," Forrest told me of Smith after Friday's game. "As a player, clearly, he's got some dynamic offensive ability. His playmaking through the neutral zone and ability to find guys, he's just really hard to read. And up on the power play, he's getting shots through and finding the guys open that in a position to attack. He has been really good at that."
Smith's teammates have appreciated those offensive abilities, and how Smith is able to use his mobility to help him get shots through on the man advantage.
"He's a really good player," Nathan Legare told me of Smith on Friday. "I think especially on the powerplay, you can see that he's kind of dancing on the on the blue line. So it's fun to watch. Even sometimes in practice, when I try to forecheck him, he's kind of dancing on me. So that's kind of funny."
The ability to get shots through has been a real strength of the Smith-Friedman pairing as a unit. Entering Friday's game the two had combined for 15 shots on goal in two games (seven for Smith, eight for Friedman), the second-most shots on goal from any defense pairing in the AHL.
"As far as their ability to produce shots and have some offensive output, they're both really good hockey players," Forrest said of his top defense pairing. "Frieds is fast. He's in your face, he plays an agitating type of style. Smitty is hard to read and he can make some of those little soft plays to find guys open. But both of them are just playing sound hockey. I mean, it's not like we're not doing anything that's a secret out there. It's just that they're good hockey players."
That "sound hockey" is what's really important to see from Smith at this level. They know he can produce offensively at the NHL, it's going to be expected in the AHL. It's his defensive game that the coaching staff is really going to be watching, and Forrest thinks that Smith is already taking steps in the right direction.
"I think some of the areas that he wanted to work on, he's been focused on there, too," Forrest said. "I thought he had some really good defensive plays tonight, as far as some little adjustments that he's been making to his game to try to just shore up that part of it."
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Smith called the AHL "similar but different" to what he's used to in the NHL. He said that everyone is "working hard, finishing checks" like in the NHL and that there are skilled players. But with the AHL being a developmental league with a lot of younger players, Smith said that it's been an adjustment in that you "have to be a little bit more aware maybe guys are not always where you think they're going to be" when it comes to positioning. Being in the AHL also means that he's going to have to get used to "three-in-threes," when the AHL plays a series of three games in three nights, something that isn't allowed in the NHL. With Smith also now playing top-pairing minutes, that kind of workload is a heavy challenge. Friday was the first game in the team's first three-in-three of the season, and Smith feels like he's up to the challenge.
"For me it's just one game at a time," he said. "I think it's playing my game the same way that I always play. I've trained hard throughout the summer and I've been fortunate to play bigger minutes before in junior and things like that when we had three-in-threes, so I think it's just taking care of myself afterwards, play the game the same way and just take it one game at a time."
This surely isn't where Smith wants to be. He went from flying on private planes in the NHL with the Devils to hopping on a bus immediately after Friday's game to take a three-and-a-half-hour bus ride to Hartford as part of a three-in-three. It's not the most glamorous life, but Smith is focusing on the positives in his situation.
"Honestly, the coaches have been amazing," Smith said. "They're really helping me out and they're really good to play for. The guys have been great down here. We've got a really good group and I think we're pretty spoiled, honestly. The food we get, we get made for us. The facilities are great, we have everything we need, honestly. So I'm definitely thankful for the way we get treated here."
If Smith is disappointed to be where he is right now, he's not showing it, and he's not letting it affect his game. That attitude has impressed the coaching staff.
"Since he's been down here, you wouldn't know that it's his first stint in the American League," Forrest said. "He's not pouting. He's just using the opportunity to try to improve, and not all guys would handle it that way. So we're happy he's doing it and he's got that approach. It tells you a lot about who he is as a guy and how important it is for him to keep improving as a hockey player."
With the current tight cap situation in Pittsburgh, it's not yet clear when Smith will get an opportunity in the NHL next. But early impressions are that Pittsburgh is going to be getting back a better Smith than the one they sent down out of camp.
