Smith played for the Hamilton Red Wings for three seasons before going to Boston. Photo courtesy of the Hamilton Spectator

Rick Smith

Rick Smith
Former Hamilton Red Wing spent many seasons with the Boston Bruins

With a 14-year career in the NHL, Rick Smith seemed a natural to start in the league with the Detroit Red Wings, after a solid three-year term with the Hamilton Red Wings in the late 1960s.

But the defenseman was selected sixth overall in the 1966 NHL draft by the Boston Bruins, starting with the club for the 1968-69 season.

Previously the Kingston-born Smith had played with the Hamilton Red Wings from 1965 through 1968, had been named the team’s most promising player before the signing and heading off to the Bruins’ training camp in London in 1968.

“He’s all hockey player,” noted Red Wings coach Eddie Bush about Smith. “Nobody pushes him around and he handles the puck really well. He’s an NHLer.”

Smith, who played midget with Kingston before coming to Hamilton, had originally thought of becoming a dentist but after his first year at McMaster University, decided to go for his BSc.

After four years with the Bruins, where he established a solid, steady approach to playing, he spent the 1971-72 and 1972-73 seasons with the California Golden Seals.

Smith spent 14 years in the NHL, including the Saint Louis Blues, but was best known for playing with the Bruins. Photo courtesy of the Hamilton Spectator

After his time out west, he jumped leagues, going to the Minnesota Fighting Saints of the WHA for three seasons.

Before the end of the 1975-76 season Smith returned to the NHL, this time with the Saint Louis Blues, and after a short stay with the Kansas City Blues of the CHL returned to his Bruins for the remainder of the 1976-77 season.

He said at the time he was glad he returned to the NHL, and was sympathetic to his former teammates on the Minnesota WHA club.

“I know just what the players are going through,” Smith said early in 1977 interview. “Hockey is a game of concentration. And talk of folding (the Fighting Saints’ owner was ready to dissolve the franchise) breaks the concentration. It is very difficult. Those are trying conditions to be playing hockey under.”

Now with 10 years of pro hockey, Smith was looking towards his future. “You can’t help thinking about your future,” he said. “About where you are going to be playing hockey.”
Smith, who played with Boston in the shadow of Bobby Orr, skated four more seasons with the Bruins, and was claimed on waivers by Detroit for the 1980-81 season, where he split his final year with the Red Wings and the Washington Capitals.

In his NHL career, Smith accumulated 219 points and 52 goals in 687 games. In 200 games of WHA play, he scored 20 times and had 89 points. He was also on the 1974 Team Canada team.

Today Smith is settled in the Kingston area. He continues to play the sport in oldtimer’s contests, and is president of the Bruins’ alumni organization.

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