The long awaited signing confirmation of 6'6 defenceman Jeff Smith has today completed the Hull Stingrays import quota for the 2012/2013 Elite Ice Hockey League campaign.
The rangy, physical blueliner returns to the UK for a second shot after sitting out the majority of the 10/11 season with the Coventry Blaze thanks to a knee injury - notching three goals and an assist as well as 25 penalty minutes along the way.
Smith - who has lifted the Canadian Hockey League (00/01), ECHL Kelly Cup (02/03), American Hockey League Calder Cup (04/05), Dutch Eredivisie (09/10) and Dutch Beker Cup (08/09 and 11/12) - moves across the North Sea for the second time having completed a second spell in Holland last season with HYS Den Haag - where he notched a goal and 12 assists in 37 games.
Having notched the championship winning goal for the Red Deer Rebels in the CHL Memorial Cup in 2001 - Smith became part of the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers organisation in 2002 signing a three-year, two-way deal. Though he never made the NHL, he iced in 57 AHL games and 96 ECHL games with the Flyers minor league affiliates the Philadelphina Phantoms and Trenton Titans respectively.
The next three seasons saw the Canadian spend a season apiece with Columbia Inferno - where he iced with former Stingray Derek Campbell - Alaska Aces and Phoenix Roadrunners in the ECHL before he made the move across the Atlantic to Holland.
He lifted the Dutch Cup for Nijmegen Devils in his first year abroad during 08/09, teaming up with another former Stingray in Christian Boucher in 09/10 to captain the Devils to the Dutch Eredivisie title before moving on to his short spell at the Skydome two seasons ago.
While the club's undoubted enforcer will be Hand, Smith is no slouch when it comes to toughness and physicality - with more than 120 career fights to his name, including a career high 19 in his final year as a junior in 2001/2002. In an Elite League that appears to get tougher and more physical by the day, the extra force of Smith is by no means a bad thing - particularly given that this has frequently been the club's weakness in the past.
His abilities will likely reach much further than that however, and it seems probable that his solid, no-nonsense brand of play will be the backbone to a defensive corps that also appears to possess offensive qualities in Dulle and a shot from the point in Valecko as well as all-around ability in Lovdahl.
Speaking of his final import signing Cloutier said:
"Jeff is a big stay-at-home defenceman. He is not flashy but he will bring a physical presence at the back and make people pay the price in front of the net. If he has to send a message I know he is not afraid to. He has won everywhere, he is an experienced guy and he is a leader. We will need that from him and he will accept any role we give him. He wanted to come back to the UK, he is excited to be joining us and I am excited to have him on board."Smith becomes the Stingrays 11th and final import signing of the 2012 off-season and, on-paper, his addition has strengthened the club's roster against opening night import quotas of the past.
With Brit Ben Bowns between the pipes the Rays are afforded the luxury of 11 outskating imports. Defensively, they appear stronger and deeper than ever with four (five if you include utility player Hand) at the back and the possibility of another British player as sixth defenceman.
While up front they may not compare quite so favourably given the loss of Campbell (11/12) and Coburn (10/11), and the addition of unknown quantities Ozolins and Tanaka at EIHL level. However, the retention of last season's scoring brunt in Jereme Tendler, Jason Silverthorn and Dominic Osman - who will be looking to continue his scintillating end to last season - is reassuring and bodes well for the club's offence going forward.
Undoubtedly the biggest question now is the strength of the club's Brits given the detraction of Sam McCluskey, Dan Scott, Andy McKinney, Tristan Harper and Jack Watkins this summer, and apparent lack of quality available at this time of year.
How the Stingrays opening night import quota shapes up (2008-2012)
08/09
|
09/10
|
10/11
|
11/12
|
12/13
|
Cruickshank
|
Boucher
|
Boucher
|
-
|
|
Neumeier
|
Burns
|
Dulle
|
Dulle
|
|
Gomenyuk
|
Gomenyuk
|
Read
|
Ondrej
|
Lovdahl
|
Kerr
|
Rodin
|
Valecko
|
||
Halkidis
|
Sladok
|
-
|
Smith
|
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
-
|
Hand
|
Cloutier
|
Cloutier
|
Cloutier
|
Cloutier
|
|
Glowa
|
Glowa
|
Silverthorn
|
Silverthorn
|
Silverthorn
|
Huppe
|
Tendler
|
Tendler
|
Tendler
|
|
Reynolds
|
Coburn
|
Osman
|
Osman
|
|
Kalmikov
|
Kalmikov
|
Kalmikov
|
Ozolins
|
|
Kostadine
|
Knight
|
Uusivirta
|
Campbell
|
Tanaka
|
11
|
11
|
11
|
10
|
11
|
