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Gemel Smith

Minor Transactions: 12/13/24

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There have been plenty of minor moves around the hockey world today.  We’ll run down the ones with NHL connections here.

  • The Oilers announced (Twitter link) that defenseman Josh Brown has been recalled from AHL Bakersfield. The 30-year-old inked a three-year, $3MM deal with Edmonton over the summer but wound up clearing waivers and has spent most of the year with the Condors, picking up three assists and 50 penalty minutes in 16 games while playing just three times with Edmonton so far.  With Alec Regula not with the team yet, it’s possible that Brown’s promotion is merely a short-term one.
  • The Rangers have brought up some extra defensive depth in the absence of K’Andre Miller. The team announced (Twitter link) that veteran Chad Ruhwedel has been recalled from AHL Hartford.  Ruhwedel has only played once with New York this season but has recorded three assists in 11 games with the Wolf Pack.  The 34-year-old has 365 career NHL contests under his belt over parts of 13 seasons.
  • The Canucks continue their frequent roster shuffling, announcing (Twitter link) that forwards Aatu Raty, Max Sasson, and defenseman Mark Friedman were assigned to AHL Abbotsford. Sasson has been moved back and forth quite often over the last few weeks while Friedman was papered down earlier this week.  Raty’s last assignment was in mid-November and considering he already has 20 games with Vancouver under his belt, it’s safe to say he’ll be back up quickly as well.
  • Veteran forward Gemel Smith has caught on with another team as he has joined AHL Bridgeport on a PTO, per a team release. The 30-year-old played in seven games with Syracuse earlier in the season, picking up four points.  Smith has 25 career points at the NHL level spanning 91 games over parts of six seasons.

Gemel Smith Signs In KHL

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Although 29-year-old forward Gemel Smith scored 53 points in 54 AHL games, this past season was Smith’s first campaign in over a half-decade that he did not feature in any NHL games.

Now, the veteran of 356 AHL games and 91 games in the NHL is headed to play for an overseas club for the first time in his pro career. According to a team announcement, Smith has signed with Dynamo Minsk in the KHL.

Smith joins 2015 first-round pick Nick Merkley, Calder Cup Champion Sam Anas, former AHL blueliner Kodie Curran, and former Cornell University star Yanni Kaldis as an overseas professional rostered by Belarus’ KHL club.

Seeing as he has been a prolific AHL scorer in recent seasons and brings genuine NHL experience, Smith is likely to be expected to be among Minsk’s top scorers for next season. While the NHL door is certainly not closed moving forward as Smith isn’t even 30 years old yet, he’ll want to have as productive a season as possible with Minsk if he hopes on returning to the world’s top league in the future.

Considering Smith’s resume, it’s possible he could get a two-way contract as soon as next summer, though he’ll likely need to put up some numbers next to Merkley and Minsk’s other offensive players in order to do so.

Snapshots: Sharks, DeBrusk, Smith

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The San Jose Sharks may be prepared to buck a recent trend among the NHL’s sellers. Head coach David Quinn has not talked to the team’s general manager, Mike Grier, about benching players for trade-related reasons, he told reporters, including The Athletic’s Corey Masisak, today.

Quinn emphasized that both of the Sharks’ high-profile trade targets, Timo Meier and Erik Karlsson, are currently under contract or team control for the next season, and the team is not obligated to trade them by the March 3 trade deadline. However, given the fervent pace of recent rumors surrounding both players, it would be shocking if neither were moved. While the financial hurdles to a Karlsson trade are understandable, Meier’s status as a pending restricted free agent gives his acquiring team some control in dictating his financial future, and a trade seems inevitable.

  • Boston Bruins head coach Jim Montgomery is reportedly optimistic about the return of winger Jake DeBrusk, says The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont. DeBrusk has been out of the lineup since January 2 due to a fractured fibula and is two weeks behind schedule. Still, Montgomery is hopeful that he’ll be able to return for their game against the New York Islanders on Saturday. DeBrusk’s return will be a welcome addition to the Bruins lineup, as his 0.83 points per game rank fourth among Bruins forwards. He’s excelled with significant playing time on the top line alongside Brad Marchand and Patrice Bergeron.
  • In a puzzling move, the Tampa Bay Lightning today loaned forward Gemel Smith to the Henderson Silver Knights, the AHL affiliate of the Vegas Golden Knights. Tampa’s affiliate, the Syracuse Crunch, announced the news this afternoon. Smith hasn’t played with the Lightning this season, but has lit up the minors with 37 points in 35 games with Syracuse thus far. It’s unclear what, if any, compensation Syracuse might receive for losing their third-leading scorer to a different organization.

Waivers: 10/03/22

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The waiver wire is full as teams continue to get closer to regular season rosters. These are the players available today, after Radim Zohorna and Magnus Hellberg were claimed from yesterday’s list.

Anaheim Ducks

Olli Juolevi
Justin Kirkland

Columbus Blue Jackets

Trey Fix-Wolansky
Gavin Bayreuther

Los Angeles Kings

T.J. Tynan

Minnesota Wild

Joe Hicketts
Joseph Cramarossa

Tampa Bay Lightning

Gemel Smith
Alex Barre-Boulet

Winnipeg Jets

Kevin Stenlund

Lightning Claim Gemel Smith Off Waivers

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Gemel Smith is heading back to Tampa Bay as TSN’s Chris Johnston reports (Twitter link) that the Lightning have claimed the forward off waivers from Detroit.

Smith started the season with the Lightning, spending a little more than three months on season-opening injured reserve.  Once he was cleared to play in mid-January, he was claimed by Detroit and subsequently sent on a three-game AHL conditioning stint.  Since returning from that nearly a month ago, the 27-year-old had hardly played, getting into just three games with the Red Wings where he had an assist while averaging less than seven minutes a game.  With Detroit having some players getting closer to returning from injury, they opted to waive Smith to get some roster flexibility.

As Tampa Bay was the only team to place a claim on Smith, they were able to send him down to AHL Syracuse and have quickly made that move.  Smith was quite productive with the Crunch back in 2019-20 with 40 points in 50 games and having played just 14 times between last season and this season combined, he should certainly benefit from some consistent playing time.  He’s in the first season of a two-year, two-way deal worth the league minimum of $750K at the NHL level.

Rask, Bunnaman Clear Waivers

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Saturday: While Smith was claimed by Tampa Bay, Johnston reports that Rask and Bunnaman both cleared waivers.

Friday: The waiver wire is busy today as three teams have exposed players to the rest of the league. Chris Johnston of TSN reports that Gemel Smith of the Detroit Red Wings, Victor Rask of the Minnesota Wild, and Connor Bunnaman of the Philadelphia Flyers have all been placed on waivers.

Smith is on waivers for the second time this season after being claimed by the Red Wings from the Tampa Bay Lightning last month. He ended up playing three games for the club and registered one assist, while playing three more for the Grand Rapids Griffins on a conditioning loan. While he’s now available to the rest of the league once again, the 27-year-old did finally get a chance to play with his brother Giavani Smith for the first time in their hockey careers. Signed for two years and carrying a $750K cap hit, it seems unlikely that anyone other than the Lightning would put in a claim. If they do and are the only team to do so, he could be assigned to the minor leagues.

Bunnaman also was on waivers earlier, clearing just before the season started. He’s been up and down (and up and down) since, but now with 15 games under his belt this season needed waivers again in order to be assigned to the Lehigh Valley Phantoms. The 23-year-old forward doesn’t have a single point in those 15 contests and now sits at just three points in 54 career games (plus four scoreless postseason appearances). Also signed through 2022-23 with a $750K cap hit, he too seems like an unlikely candidate for claim.

Then there is Rask, who will certainly generate most of the headlines among this trio. The 28-year-old center is in the final season of a six-year, $24MM contract he signed in 2016 with the Carolina Hurricanes and already cleared waivers in January. There isn’t any team in the league who will touch that contract, given how poorly Rask’s time in Minnesota has gone. Acquired in 2019 in a one-for-one deal that saw Nino Niederreiter go the other way, Rask has recorded 22 goals and 52 points in 149 games with the Wild. His ice time has continued to drop, to the point where even when he does get into the lineup it’s for just a handful of shifts. In each of his last five appearances, he’s logged fewer than 10 minutes.

Notably, even when the Wild assign him to the minor leagues they will receive just $1.125MM of cap relief. What they do gain is a roster spot, one that perhaps could go to a prospect like Marco Rossi, who continues to light up the AHL. Rossi has points in all but eight of his 35 games with the Iowa Wild this season, including six in his past four outings.

Detroit Red Wings Claim Gemel Smith

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It’s a family reunion in Detroit, as the Red Wings have claimed Gemel Smith off waivers from the Tampa Bay Lightning according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Smith is the older brother of Red Wings forward Givani Smith.

Sean Shapiro of The Athletic tweets that because the Smith brothers are several years apart, they have never played on the same team or against each other during their hockey careers. They’ll get that chance now in Detroit, as Gemel Smith will have to be kept on the NHL roster after the waiver claim.

That’s certainly an interesting twist, given the 27-year-old forward hasn’t played a single game at any level this season. He dealt with a surgery that has kept him on injured reserve for the last several months and is only now approaching a return to play. Instead of going to the minor leagues, he’ll end up in Detroit where he could very well receive a bigger opportunity than he has in years.

A veteran of just 88 games at the NHL level, most of those came with the Dallas Stars in 2017-18 when he suited up 46 times. Smith has played just 11 NHL contests over the past three seasons but did have two 40-point minor league campaigns during that time.

His younger brother Givani Smith, 23, has found out exactly what can happen when you’re on an organization in the middle of a rebuild. He’s played in 31 games for the Red Wings this season, scoring two goals and four points while racking up 68 penalty minutes. While still only averaging a little over eight minutes a night, he’s nearly matched his previous career total of games played already.

Smith Claimed, Lagesson Clears Waivers

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Jan 19: While Smith has been claimed by the Detroit Red Wings, Lagesson cleared waivers and has been assigned to the Oilers’ taxi squad.

Jan 18: The Edmonton Oilers have placed William Lagesson on waivers, according to Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet. Gemel Smith of the Tampa Bay Lightning has also been placed on waivers as he nears a return from the injury that has kept him out through the first part of the season.

Lagesson, 25, played just 7:29 in the Oilers brutal third-period meltdown on Saturday night, and has gotten into just ten games this season overall. Waived at the start of the season, he cleared and spent a good chunk of the year in the minor leagues. A fourth-round pick in 2014, he has four points in 37 career NHL games, not exactly what would draw much attention from other teams.

Still, in the era of COVID-related absences, you never know who will be grabbed off waivers as an emergency replacement. Lagesson does carry a cap hit of just $725K, less than the league minimum salary and something that could be of interest to a cap-strapped contender.

Smith meanwhile hasn’t played at all this season, but his placement on waivers suggests that period on the sidelines could be coming to an end. The 27-year-old forward has cleared waivers several times in the past, including last January. It seems almost guaranteed that he will clear again, given he has just eight games (at any level) under his belt since the start of 2020-21.

Several Players Placed On Long-Term Injured Reserve

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This afternoon, teams were required to submit a cap-compliant opening day roster to the league. This roster is not fixed and can be changed before a team actually takes the ice for their first game, meaning many players who would otherwise be considered on the team were included in a loan to the minor leagues. That “paper transaction” will not have the player actually report to the minor leagues, as he’ll be back up with the NHL team quickly.

The merit behind these transactions in many cases is to maximize long-term injured reserve relief. If necessary, a team attempts to get as close to the $81.5MM salary cap upper limit before placing a player on LTIR in order to receive the maximum benefit. This year has quite a few players hit the board already, which means they will miss a minimum of ten games and 24 days, though some are expected to miss the entire season.

Here are the players who have been placed on LTIR so far today:

D Jake Gardiner (CAR)
D Caleb Jones (CHI)
G Ben Bishop (DAL)
D Oscar Klefbom (EDM)
G Alex Stalock (EDM)
G Carey Price (MTL)
F Gemel Smith (TBL)
D Brent Seabrook (TBL)
F Bryan Little (WPG)

This post will be updated as more season-opening rosters are announced.

Tampa Bay Lightning Re-Sign Gemel Smith

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July 23: The Lightning have officially announced Smith’s two-year, two-way deal.

July 22: The Tampa Bay Lightning have signed forward Gemel Smith to a two-year, two-way contract extension, according to CapFriendly. The deal will carry an NHL salary of $750K, an AHL salary of $250K and a minor league guarantee of $350K in both seasons. Smith would have become an unrestricted free agent next week.

Smith, 27, laid five games for the Lightning this season, recording three assists in limited ice time. While he only has 88 career NHL games under his belt, Tampa Bay may need more and more to rely on these fringe roster players as they deal with the flat cap. Players like Ross Colton and Alex Barre-Boulet are both restricted free agents with arbitration rights, while other bottom-six bargains like Barclay Goodrow have moved on to greener pastures.

At the very least, Smith can continue to provide top-end scoring in the AHL, where he has 86 points over his past 100 games. Originally a fourth-round pick by the Dallas Stars, he now represents valuable depth for an organization that prioritizes it at all levels.

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