Don't kid yourselves, fringe NHL players are still absolute allstars on any non pro league. Even fringe defenceman that you think can "barely" skate will blow you away out there. Smyth, even at 40 will be absolutely dominating if he tried.
I used to play pick up/shinny/practice at KC when I was younger with fringe/established players like Sean Brown, Douglas Murray (I think), Iggy, Rocky Thompson, Brian Swanson and some other unnamed bubble farm players. They were amazing.
Got absolutely crushed crossing the blueline fishing for a puck by Sean Brown on a suicide pass. No remorse man, he didn't even look back to ask if I was ok. I wasn't mad, I even realized he held back on it. I can't imagine how hard it would have been if he intended to. Murray "rubbed" out my buddy along the board for the puck. Said after he'd never been man handled so easily before.
They were probably playing at 15% of their potential. Not to mention how hard and accurate their shots were. Another level.
I don't think that's necessarily true. Look at the top mens league in Edmonton
http://ccehl.shawwebspace.ca/pages/view/top_goal_scores/ Some of you may be familiar with this league. I'll pull out a few notable names that we all will know.
Fistric, Marc 9GP 7G 7A 14PTS
Strudwick, Jason 2GP 0G 0A 0PTS
Top players in this league are putting up 3-4 pts per game.
Then look at a guy like Mike Danton, typical fringe NHL player (NHL 87GP 9G 5A 14PTS). Goes and plays University hockey at St. Mary's University and only puts up 35GP 6G 3A 9PTS when he's in his late 20's.
Theo Fluery playing sr AAA for Horse lake in 05 (age 36ish)
Reg Season
7GP 4G 10A 14Pts
Allan Cup (2nd in tournament)
3GP 3G 5A 8Pts
http://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/National-Championships/Men/Allan-Cup/2005/Home
He's one of the most skilled guys to play the game and while he's at the top of the Tournament in terms of point production, he's not that far ahead to term him an absolute allstar.
If you look at the same league today the top scorers are putting up more points per game than he did in the 7 games he played in the regular season.
http://www.discoverthepeacecountry....xtra/stats/leadingscorers-2015-2016stats.html
Look at Kyle Rossiter (was a bubble NHL player) on the same team Smyth is playing in. This year he has 3 assists in 12 games.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyle_Rossiter
Obviously these NHL players who look to play in Mens leagues and SR hockey after their pro careers, are still great players and in most cases they are near the top of the leagues, but they aren't always absolute all stars. There are many guys in these leagues that never touched the NHL that keep up with them and in some cases put up better numbers.