Jason Smith (ice hockey)

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Position	Defence
Shoots	Right
Nickname(s)	Gator[1], Smitty
Height Weight	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 215 lb (98 kg/15 st 5 lb)
NHL Team F. teams	Philadelphia Flyers Edmonton Oilers New Jersey Devils Toronto Maple Leafs
Nationality	Canada
Born	November 2, 1973 (1973-11-02) (age 34), Calgary, AB, CAN
NHL Draft	18th overall, 1992 New Jersey Devils
Pro career	1993 – present

Jason Matthew Smith (born November 2, 1973) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman in the National Hockey League for the Philadelphia Flyers. He has played in the NHL since the 1993–94 season. He is a physical defender and is often mentioned as one of the most under-rated players in the NHL.

[edit] Playing career

Smith was drafted by the New Jersey Devils in the 1992 NHL Entry Draft. He was named to the Western Hockey League's all-rookie team in 1992 and WHL first all-star team in 1993. He won the Bill Hunter Trophy as the WHL's top defenceman. Smith played on the gold medal-winning Team Canada at the World Junior Ice Hockey Championship in 1993. He made his NHL debut with the Devils during the 1993-94 NHL season. He missed the majority of the 1994–95 season because of a knee injury, but played in one playoff game before returning to captain the Albany River Rats of the American Hockey League to a Calder Cup championship in 1995, in the same year that the Devils captured the Stanley Cup.

In 1997 he was traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs and then in 1999 he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers. When Doug Weight was traded to the St. Louis Blues, Smith was named Captain. He would be the longest serving captain in Oilers history (from 2001-07).

Smith was part of the Edmonton Oiler team that made a run to the Stanley Cup Finals. However, the Oilers lost in game 7 of the finals to the Carolina Hurricanes. Smith had 1 goal and 4 assists in the 2006 Playoffs.

On July 1, 2007 Smith was traded to the Philadelphia Flyers with Joffrey Lupul for Joni Pitkanen and Geoff Sanderson.

On October 1, 2007 he was named as the captain for the Flyers during the 2007-08 Season^[2].

Jason Smith is one of 5 currently active NHL players to be a captain of 2 different NHL teams, both the Philadelphia Flyers and the Edmonton Oilers. The players who currently share this honour are Jason Smith, Chris Pronger, Trevor Linden, Jaromir Jagr and Chris Chelios. Although Smith, Pronger and Jagr are the only players of these 5 who currently wear the C on their respective teams.

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Jason Smith's career stats at The Internet Hockey Database