Clocking in at No. 11 of our 25 Montreal Canadiens in 25 days series is forward Devante Smith-Pelly.
In an age when puck possession has become a focal point of player evaluation, Smith-Pelly rarely gets a glowing review. His rough and tumble style isn’t conducive to rocking a stellar corsi rating, but then again, neither is regularly being used as a bottom-six forward.
He’s underwhelmed in the scoring department and his status as one of the league’s most frequent hitters is generally underappreciated. As a result, Smith-Pelly’s trade out of Anaheim at 22 years old was hardly surprising.
But there’s good reason why Smith-Pelly was selected in the second round (42nd overall) of the 2010 NHL Draft.
He made waves in 2007-08 as part of the GTHL’s Toronto Jr. Canadiens, scoring 38 goals, 39 assists and 159 penalty minutes in 85 games en route to an OHL Cup win.
He parlayed his early success into three impressive campaigns with the OHL’s Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors. In 2010-11, Smith-Pelly was a force in the major junior playoffs, notching 21 points in 20 games and adding another six points in five Memorial Cup games.
There was evidence his goal-scoring ability would reveal itself quickly at the NHL level, especially after he posted 41 goals in 124 AHL contests.
But there’s been very little consistency in Smith-Pelly’s NHL game to date and he has many people in Montreal wondering what the Canadiens were thinking when they traded speedy forward Jiri Sekac for him.
With an expiring contract and a lot to prove to earn another one, could this be the year Smith-Pelly hits his stride?
Who: Devante Smith-Pelly | No. 21 | fourth line (right wing) | 6-feet | 220 pounds | @smithpelly23 | Age: 23
Acquired: Trade (2015) for forward Jiri Sekac
Contract status: Two years, $800,000 AAV (expires 2016)
2014-15 Stats: 74 GP | 6 G | 14 A | 20 P | 14:16 TOI | 46.9 CF%
Career stats: 149 GP | 15 G | 28 A | 43 P | 12:18 TOI | 43.1 CF%
The book on 2014-15:
Smith-Pelly led the Ducks with 147 hits in 54 games (ranked 23rd among NHL forwards). Unfortunately, the other dimensions of his game were lacking and his scoring was far too sporadic despite moonlighting on a line with superstars Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry.
Smith-Pelly fell victim to Anaheim’s depth on the right wing and even spent a lot of the season at left wing, where he appeared out of his comfort zone.
The case for Smith-Pelly being a better fit in Montreal started with the Canadiens’ lack of depth at right wing prior to his arrival. His physicality was also an asset for a team lacking that type of presence in its forward group.
But shortly after his arrival in Montreal, Smith-Pelly’s conditioning was called into question by head coach Michel Therrien. And barely a month after the trade, he was made a healthy scratch for a series of games.
Smith-Pelly rebounded well. He dropped some weight in the gym and quickly pushed his way back into the lineup. Concerns that he couldn’t cut it in Montreal were put aside and he was given a chance to rise up in the Stanley Cup playoffs and thrive in the post-season as he had in the past. After all, general manager Marc Bergevin had pointed to the Scarborough, Ont., native’s playoff pedigree as the main reason for bringing him in.
What Bergevin didn’t mention was Smith-Pelly’s insanely high shooting percentage in the 2014 playoffs (19.2 per cent). A regression in the 2015 post-season was predictable and though he only scored one goal in 12 games, it was a very important one.
That goal aside, it was a disappointing season for Smith-Pelly.
Off-season updates:
Shortly after the Canadiens were eliminated from the playoffs, Smith-Pelly caused a bit of a stir with this tweet.
It was in reference to former teammate Emerson Etem being scratched by Ducks coach Bruce Boudreau in the Western Conference final. Etem was traded to the New York Rangers a month later, but obviously that had nothing to do with Smith-Pelly’s innocuous Twitter jab.
Smith-Pelly spent the majority of his summer in Toronto, watching his beloved Blue Jays captivate the sporting world and participating in charity events hosted by Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds and Canadiens teammate Nathan Beaulieu.
2015-16 outlook:
Smith-Pelly’s main objective out of training camp has to be securing a place on the right wing, which is going to be a significant challenge considering the Canadiens’ newfound depth at the position.
He’ll compete with Dale Weise and Zack Kassian on the bottom two lines and any thought of Smith-Pelly overtaking Brendan Gallagher or Alex Semin on the top two lines is farfetched.
But if he can come into camp in the best shape of his life and find his scoring touch in the pre-season, he could prove to be a great surprise for Montreal in 2015-16.
