The Penguins' priority in trading John Marino to the Devils last offseason was to clear cap space and open up a spot on the right side of the second defense pairing for Jeff Petry. Of course, the Penguins couldn't simply take back nothing in return for the caliber of player Marino is, even if he stagnated following an impressive rookie season.
As so, the Penguins took a flyer on another young defenseman who didn't blast off after an intriguing rookie season, Ty Smith.
Well-documented after he was acquired, Smith came with eye-catching offensive tools, but equally as eye-catching defensive challenges. After putting up impressive point totals for a defenseman during his junior career, then almost putting up half a point per game as a rookie in the NHL, it's seemed as though the only thing that would stop Smith from becoming a regular in the NHL is the work in his own end.
With injuries to Petry and Kris Letang on the Penguins' blue line, Smith finally debuted with the Penguins on Dec. 30 after starting the season down in the AHL with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Smith has now appeared in five games total and, completely ignoring his goal and two assists, he's at least earned himself a longer look with the big club. Whether or not that happens is a different story.
Is there anyone who'd disagree that, while he hasn't been some sort of revelation by any means, Smith has fit in right away? I certainly think he has. He's just been ... solid? Especially considering he was thrown right to the top power-play unit with two future Hall of Famers and two more established veterans. And that seems and feels really weird to say keeping in mind his defensive baggage.
Here's the Penguins' share of expected goals with Smith on the ice at 5-on-5 in each of his first five games:
Aside from Smith's second and third game (which came against the Bruins and Golden Knights, worth bearing in mind), the Penguins have controlled play to a pretty strong degree with Smith out there at full strength. If expected goals aren't your thing, the Penguins have kept their heads above water in shots and shot attempts with Smith out there at 5-on-5 in each of his games except his very first game against the Devils, which they graded out well in expected goals anyway.
Across Smith's 64-plus minutes at full strength, the Penguins are controlling a strong 58.1% of the expected goals. We're talking about a very tiny sample size here, and these metrics can swing wildly from game to game, but it's not like we can't discuss and analyze his performance to this point.
The strangest part of Smith's results with the Penguins so far is that he's been strapped to Brian Dumoulin for 51 of his 64 full-strength minutes. Dumoulin, by eye test, by analytics, by raw on-ice goals, has been the Penguins' weakest defenseman this season. And the dude who came as a bit of a risk himself is suddenly carrying Dumoulin to better results than anyone not named Letang could get out of him? All while playing his off side? OK then.
Seriously, take a look at their results together:
Uh, what?
I'll reiterate that we are talking about a very small sample here and that things could change in a hurry. I'll also make note that the Dumoulin-Smith pairing has played almost exclusively with the Penguins' top-two forward lines while starting 20% of their shifts in the offensive zone to just 3% of their shifts in the defensive zone. Still, we aren't to just ignore the results, are we? Of course not!
To try and make sense of it all, I went back and re-watched every shift of Smith's from the Penguins' previous two games against the Canucks and Coyotes. Both weaker opponents, no doubt, but with those being two of Smith's three best games by expected goals share, it was a good opportunity to identify what's taking place to get to those results.
At 5-foot-11, 180 pounds, Smith doesn't have a very hefty or powering shot, but he hasn't been afraid to let it rip. Granted, I'm no proponent of shooting for the sake of it, especially from distance, but there is something to be said for funneling pucks to the net at the appropriate times.
Watch how Smith walked himself into a shooting lane before smartly firing a shot along the ice from an angle to create a juicy rebound. A bit of havoc around the net ensued, which seems to bode well for getting a fair share of mucky goals over time:
It's impressive to move like that while keeping the puck in a loaded position, allowing you to shoot or pass in an instant. It's even more impressive that Smith kept that shot along the ice looking for a rebound after putting it through a set of legs. As you can see, this even occurred with the Penguins' third line out there and it nearly resulted in a goal.
I'm not sure if it will continue to be true as time goes on, but Smith seems to be benefitting from playing on the right side, where his stick is almost always in the middle of the ice rather than along the perimeter. Yet again I'll repeat the sample size is small, but in just more than an hour of 5-on-5 work, the rate at which Smith attempts shots (14.9 per hour) ranks first on the Penguins, over two attempts more per hour than Letang in second. Standing out above that is Smith's rate of 9.31 shots on target per hour, almost four shots more per hour than Letang in second.
It hasn't amounted to anything tangible yet, but Smith is more than willing to join the rush given the opportunity. He likely would've scored on this rush against the Canucks had a cross-ice pass made it his way:
Look, I don't know if Smith's offensive ability will ever translate to high-end impacts or point totals, but there's a decent foundation there for him to at least be average in that department playing in a sheltered role.
What we'll focus on from here is Smith's defensive work, which has been shockingly adequate. Dare I say it's been good?
From the opening puck drop against the Coyotes, Smith did display a bit of the risk associated with his game with a sketchy pinch that sent the Coyotes on a 2-on-1. Watch what he did in recovery, though:
Probably wasn't the best call to be so aggressive there with Sidney Crosby's momentum also taking him away from the Penguins' end, but after the Coyotes' 2-on-1 pass was off the mark, Smith tracked the puck wide before getting inside positioning on his man. This allowed Smith to tie him up and then knock him off balance as Crosby swooped in on the puck to start the Penguins' breakout.
I don't mean to be hyperbolic in saying this, but that risky pinch was the only moment I came across in which I found Smith to be directly responsible for imminent danger against during full-strength action. Could he have played a few sequences better here and there? Sure, although I saw nothing of the defensive liability that I saw in my previous film study on him.
When Smith was recalled, he said he was focused on his defense while down in the AHL. That checks out:
Instead of chasing the puck behind the net with Dumoulin, which would've resulted in a wide-open Coyote out front, Smith had the awareness to stay out front and come across the net in coverage. It worked out perfectly, as he intercepted the centering pass and made a slick backhand pass under forechecking pressure to spark the Penguins' breakout.
I'm telling you right now, the Smith from last season would have chased behind the net there. I saw him do it on similar plays. It's a massive sign of growth that he didn't.
Remember how I said to take all of this with a grain of salt due to the sample size and going up against relatively weak opponents? Well, here's Smith playing completely within himself and his size limitations to perfectly defend Bo Horvat, who isn't exactly a slouch with 29 goals and 45 points in 40 games this season:
Once Horvat gained the red line at center ice and maneuvered around Crosby to the outside, Smith transitioned in order to skate forward alongside Horvat, rather than backward. This allowed Smith to take an angle on Horvat as he increasingly closed the gap on Horvat's separation. The second Horvat had to interrupt his stride to reach out for the puck, Smith took his opportunity to completely seal him off along the wall.
Now, Horvat's got an inch and 35 pounds on Smith. The latter likely knew he wasn't going to out-brute the former, but that didn't stop him from selling out with his body to do just enough to prevent Horvat's pursuit of the puck as support from Crosby and Dumoulin was trailing in.
Not impressed? How about Smith boxing out Elias Pettersson like a seasoned veteran as they went into the corner together?
Smith didn't immediately race after the puck in the corner to try and skate it out of danger. He didn't have enough momentum to do so. Instead, he primarily focused on establishing body positioning first and foremost. That is huge. So many times on puck retrievals, players will gain possession of the puck, only to be in a suboptimal spot to do anything with it.
Establishing body positioning first sets you up much better for actually turning the retrieval into a positive sequence and, in this specific instance, Smith came to realize he had adequate enough support to simply keep impeding Pettersson's pursuit. Jake Guentzel's pass was off the mark, but the Penguins were out of the zone just a moment later.
That's exactly the way Smith must play to be effective defensively, or at least not be the reason for the Penguins getting hemmed in. It's not going to be bone-crunching hits or some wizard-like defensive stick, it's going to be that annoying and calculated style that brings him success in his own end. In turn, that should create more frequent opportunities to make something happen offensively. He's just got to keep it going.
OK, enough of the technical breakdowns. Just watch the following sequence and try to find something to suggest it's not really solid defense on Smith's part. You won't be able to:
Smith's steadiness in his own end, combined with a knack for commanding the puck and distributing it well, has led to an encouraging start for him and Dumoulin as a pairing. Dumoulin deserves some credit, too, as he hasn't been anywhere close to the liability with Smith as we've seen from him at other points this season.
For a last time I'll reiterate that we're dealing with a minimal body of work here, and a good chunk of the best results came against not-so-great teams. Still, the early returns from Smith are encouraging. It appears the Penguins might have a new wrinkle in the dynamic on their blue line with Smith, but that will require finding the room to fit him under the salary cap when both Letang and Petry return to the lineup.
