By the Numbers Prospects: Givani Smith

By the Numbers will highlight the on-ice accomplishments in the 2019-20 season for the Detroit Red Wings' prospects. Twice a week during the offseason, By the Numbers will profile a different player in the system, focusing on his statistical highs. This week we focus on forward Givani Smith.

Givani Smith entered the 2019-20 season with the goal of at least making his NHL debut with the Detroit Red Wings.

Some early-season injuries in Detroit made that a reality last October and the power forward wore the winged wheel in a regular-season NHL game for the first time.

Smith, 22, played in at least one game with the Wings in every month but March, earning respect from his coaches and teammates as well as his opponents.

The rest of the season he spent with the Grand Rapids Griffins, Detroit's AHL affiliate.

What everyone was looking forward to was seeing how Smith would do if the Griffins were able to make the playoffs.

In junior hockey, Smith was a force to be reckoned with when the postseason came. With the OHL's Kitchener Rangers in the 2018 playoffs, Smith had 11 goals and seven assists in 18 games.

Of course, the COVID-19 pandemic shut down sports and the AHL eventually canceled the remainder of the regular season and the Calder Cup playoffs on May 11, putting an end to that hope.

Had the NHL elected to resume the end of its regular season before attempting the Stanley Cup playoffs, Smith would have been a natural fit as part of an expanded roster.

But the NHL decided to move straight into a 24-team playoff format, forgoing the remaining regular-season games.

Depending on the border situation, Smith might be able to return to the metro Detroit area at some point to train, as he has done the last few summers.

When the 2020-21 season does begin, Smith will be in a good spot to compete for a roster spot with the Wings.

1 - On Oct. 25, Smith made his NHL debut at Little Caesars Arena against the Buffalo Sabres with his father, Gary, and aunt, Maureen, in attendance. He recorded his first NHL point, an assist, in the Wings' 4-3 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Jan. 7.

21 - Smith played in 21 games for the Red Wings this past season.

2- Smith recorded two goals with Detroit. On Jan. 14 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Smith scored his first NHL goal in an 8-2 loss to the Islanders. He also scored Jan. 20 at Colorado in a 6-3 loss.

13:10 - Smith set a season high, playing 13:10 against the Islanders.

37 - Smith played in 37 games for the Griffins, including their final game on March 11.

9 - In his 21 NHL games, Smith had nine penalty minutes. Five of those came on Nov. 12 at Anaheim in Smith's fourth game when he had his first NHL fight against Nicolas Deslauriers. In 37 games with the Griffins, Smith recorded nine goals, tied with Turner Elson (nine in 61 games), Filip Zadina (nine in 21 games) and Eric Tangradi (nine in 21). Chris Terry led the Griffins with 21 goals in 57 games.

10 - Smith also had 10 assists, tied with Dennis Cholowski (10 in 30 games) and Dominik Shine (10 in 50 games). Terry led the Griffins with 30 assists.

19 - The 19 points Smith had was an improvement over the 13 points in 64 games he had in his rookie season with the Griffins.

75 - Despite playing in just 37 games, Smith was the team's leader in penalty minutes with 75, two more minutes than defenseman Dylan McIlrath had in 44 games.

4 - At 6-foot-2, 210 pounds, Smith can be an immovable force in front of the net, making him very valuable on the power play. He had four power-play goals, tied with Michael Rasmussen (four in 35 games) and Matthew Ford (four in 52 games). Terry led the team with 11 power-play goals.

Quotable: "Givani really played well for us the first half of the season. I think he was, if not our most consistent forward down there in terms of his play, he really worked hard in the offseason on his conditioning, his skating, and I think that was a big difference for him this year. He was able to sustain. He plays a difficult role in that he needs to bring energy every shift and that's not easy to do. It's not a guy that's sitting on the outside looking to create offense. He needs to be more physical, turn pucks over, be a pain in the ass really to play against and he's really starting to learn that role. That role in itself takes a lot of energy to do and it takes a high level of conditioning and I think to Givani's credit, the last two summers he's put that time in and I think he's starting to reap the rewards of that. "It's funny, we spend a lot of time trying to convince Givani, not convince him but make him realize that you're in a unique position where really, you can be a positive influence on the game without even scoring a point. I think that's hard for these kids to learn. Like Givani would produce points, he was a production player, played power play all the time in junior hockey. Of course we want him to score for us, we want him to produce points but he's also a guy that can affect the game in a positive level without having production being his calling. But to his credit, that's hard to do without taking penalties and I think early in his career, he struggled doing that, he struggled playing that role and playing that type of style that really does come natural to him, but without taking penalties. That's one area that I think he's improved a lot is doing that and staying out of the box. All the top pests, all the top energy players in the league are able to do that and there's a reason why they stay in the league for so long. Because no coach wants to put a player out there that he thinks is going to put them down a man every time that the game needs a shift in energy. He's trying to figure that out as well and it's a bonus for us if he does." - Shawn Horcoff, director of player development and assistant director of player personnel