Am I the only one who thinks smith shouldn’t be looked at as a “lock” for next season. When we drafted him I recall Castron saying he needed a few years in juniors and didn’t want to rush a kid of his talent level. He’s only 19 and I think that especially at his position I wouldn’t want to throw him to the wolves. By no means am I saying he’s not ready but I think we should wait and see before plugging him in as a top 4 guy next season
Every single thing I've read about the kid insists there's nothing left for him to do in junior's. He's coming off of a monster season, can't play in the A, and - I believe - could have made the team last year if not for the weird glut they already had on the left side.
He'll be a few months older than Heiskanen currently is, who looks pretty damn good for Dallas right now. Obviously there's a draft position disparity there, but let's not act like it's impossible for young defenceman to shine. Not saying it's necessarily likely, but he certainly deserves to burn those 9 games with the big boys.