Smith ready to embark on pro career

DETROIT -- The Detroit Red Wings have several big forwards in their system but there really aren't any quite like Givani Smith.
Smith, Detroit's second-round pick, 46th overall, in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft, is an extremely solid 6-foot-2, 206 pounds.

If there's a spot on the ice Smith wants, he's going to take it.
"I know my role, I'm a power forward, I can get to dirty areas," Smith said after Day 2 of Red Wings Development Camp at Little Caesars Arena's BELFOR Training Center. "My job is to be hard on the forecheck and get the puck for the guys who are really high in skill and go to the net and get open. Simple game for me."
Smith will come to training camp looking to win a job with the Red Wings but now that he has turned 20, he can go to the AHL's Grand Rapids Griffins if he does not make the Wings.
"Givani's a big, strong kid," Griffins coach Ben Simon said. "We saw a little bit of what he can do two years ago in the spring when he came to Grand Rapids. Big, strong body. He's focused a little more on developing his offensive instincts and getting pucks off the wall and taking them to the scoring areas. He's a guy who's going to be relied on to bring a little bit of a physical presence and create space for his linemates, but at the same time, we're expecting him to help contribute offensively. As a young guy coming into our league, it's tough. There's high expectations from him on himself and then what the organization expects from him as well."
Smith had a difficult start to last season as he suffered a high ankle sprain in training camp that set him back when he returned to the OHL's Guelph Storm.
"It was tough, I got hurt at camp, unfortunately I missed two months, wasn't ready for World Juniors, so I missed that," Smith said. "After I got past like, the first six months, I started getting back into it, I was feeling really good and then I got traded to Kitchener, had a pretty good half there."
In 27 games with the Kitchener Rangers, Smith had nine goals, 10 assists and was plus-6.
But in the playoffs, Smith lifted his game to greater heights, scoring 11 goals and seven assists in 18 games.
"I think for me, playing playoffs, the solid game I play, we're playing that team six times or seven times, constantly I'm finishing my checks, playing hard, getting under guys' skin," Smith said. "Over time, guys think about it, hear me coming, it makes more space for me and my linemates. That's why I did pretty well."
It was all going well until the Rangers defeated the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in overtime in Game 6 of the Western Conference finals, with Smith getting the primary assist on the game-winning goal.
In the heat of the moment, Smith reacted by making an obscene gesture toward the Greyhounds bench.
The OHL suspended Smith for two games, including Game 7, a game the Rangers lost in double overtime.
"Definitely tough way to go; it was my last year of junior," Smith said. "We had a real good playoff run and me, myself. Worked so hard to get to the conference finals and the way how I got suspended wasn't ideal."
As one of the few black players in the OHL, Smith had endured some racial slurs - not for the first time - and he reacted.
"Throughout the whole year and the end of the season, I guess it just all built up in me and what happened at the end of the game, I wasn't thinking and my emotions got the best of me," he said.
What transpired next was quite frightening and unprecedented as Smith received threats on social media that were so awful that OHL commissioner David Branch decided Smith needed a police escort for Game 7.
"I guess it was for my safety," Smith said. "I was getting some rude comments over social media. Team thought and GM thought it was better being safe, especially at a place that's really far from home, don't know too many people. I guess it was just needed."
Smith knows that opposing fans are not always going to like him, especially with the hard style he plays, but some things cross the line.
"Fans all like to say a lot of things," Smith said. "Certain things it's just like 2018, don't really need to hear that stuff. It doesn't happen often but it happened.
"For me, it's on the ice, stuff away from hockey, I don't pay attention to too much. It happened but I was raised to be pretty mentally tough. It didn't really faze me too much. I dealt with it pretty fine."
Smith has a strong support system with his father, Gary, and brothers Gary, Gemel and Joshua.
"Me and my brothers were all raised to be mentally strong," Smith said. "My dad told us when we were little, down the road, wherever you go, stuff might happen. That's just life, how it is. I was prepared for it, me and my family. I think I handled it pretty well."
Gemel Smith is a forward in the Dallas Stars organization.
"I have two other brothers that play hockey so they're like my mentors, I look up to them," Smith said. "It's really nice having them. They understand everything I'm going through. They've been in my shoes. It's really good having older brothers."
Smith also heard from current and former NHL players like goaltender Kevin Weekes, Joel Ward, P.K. Subban and Akim Aliu.
"They offered me a lot of advice, they're always there, said if you want to talk about it, we're there," Smith said. "I'm sure I'm not the only black hockey player that's been through it. It happens, I'm over it now. I'm here in the next chapter, which is development camp."
The Red Wings also reached out to Smith to make sure he knew he had their full support.
"It was an ugly situation," Detroit director of player development Shawn Horcoff said during his recent appearance on the Red and White Authority podcast. "We just said, 'Listen, you have the Detroit Red Wings' support. If there's anything that you need at any time in terms of anything here, you have our support' - he was playing for Kitchener at the time, I think they did a good job of handling it - we said, 'Once you're under our firm control, we will not put up with any of this. We don't condone it, we obviously don't support it, we strongly disagree with it and we strongly will have your back.' To his credit, his team was winning, they were moving on, he didn't want to make it a bigger deal than it was. Those are his words. He just didn't want it to be a distraction to his teammates. I thought he handled it extremely well, professionally. But anytime something like that happens, it just puts a black mark on the game of hockey in general overall."
But there is optimism that the game is evolving and becoming more welcoming with the NHL's Hockey is for Everyone campaign and Tuesday's announcement that Willie O'Ree, the first black NHL player, will be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
"I'm really happy," Smith said. "He definitely paved the way for me and a lot of African-American, African-Canadian hockey players out there. Subban, he made a really good quote. He said it's his (O'Ree's) movie, we're just extras in his movie. I laughed at that. I thought that was pretty funny."
Smith is now focused on his third development camp and doing everything in his power to become a better player.
"Obviously I can always work on my first three steps getting out of my zone," Smith said. "I'm 20 years old now, I've been developing a lot, so I think I'm almost there, but there's always more room for improvement."
On Wednesday, Smith was skating on a line with Michael Rasmussen and Filip Zadina, the team's last two first-round picks.
"Phenomenal," Smith said about his line mates. "Z and Ras are really, really good players. Happy to be on a line with them, they make it easier for the game."
Now Smith is hoping it won't be long before the three can all play together at Little Caesars Arena for the Red Wings.
"It's really big because there's only so many jobs in the NHL," Smith said. "Being myself and what I do, teams are looking for guys like me, especially in Detroit.
"I think I'm in a good position."