Brendan Smith
Columbus Blue Jackets Defense
36 years old, 32 games, and a seventh defenceman signed to be a presence rather than a player.
| Season | Team | GP | G | A | PTS | +/- | PIM | PP | SH | GW | S | S% | TOI |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011-12 | DET | 14 | 1 | 6 | 7 | +3 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 | 7.7 | 15:38 |
| 2012-13 | DET | 34 | 0 | 8 | 8 | +1 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 33 | 0.0 | 18:24 |
| 2013-14 | DET | 71 | 5 | 14 | 19 | -2 | 68 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 90 | 5.6 | 18:23 |
| 2014-15 | DET | 76 | 4 | 9 | 13 | -2 | 68 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 88 | 4.5 | 17:53 |
| 2015-16 | DET | 63 | 3 | 12 | 15 | +1 | 62 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 82 | 3.7 | 17:36 |
| 2016-17 | DET/NYR | 51 | 3 | 6 | 9 | +1 | 63 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 62 | 4.8 | 19:14 |
| 2017-18 | NYR | 44 | 1 | 7 | 8 | +2 | 69 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 1.5 | 17:10 |
| 2018-19 | NYR | 63 | 4 | 9 | 13 | -7 | 71 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 6.1 | 15:18 |
| 2019-20 | NYR | 62 | 3 | 5 | 8 | -12 | 71 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 45 | 6.7 | 11:06 |
| 2020-21 | NYR | 48 | 5 | 5 | 10 | +3 | 73 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 58 | 8.6 | 16:26 |
| 2021-22 | CAR | 45 | 4 | 4 | 8 | +6 | 36 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 63 | 6.3 | 13:55 |
| 2022-23 | NJD | 60 | 0 | 5 | 5 | +3 | 63 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 58 | 0.0 | 15:33 |
| 2023-24 | NJD | 63 | 5 | 10 | 15 | -3 | 61 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 60 | 8.3 | 16:06 |
| 2024-25 | DAL | 32 | 1 | 5 | 6 | -9 | 33 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 27 | 3.7 | 13:13 |
| 2025-26 so far | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
| Career | — | 726 | 39 | 105 | 144 | -15 | 787 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 811 | 4.8 | 16:15 |
This Season So Far
The 2025-26 season has not started. The empty row above is his, and both it and this paragraph fill in on their own from the morning after he first plays: what he has done, what it is worth against his own last season, and the run he is on when the two disagree.
Last Season
1 goal and 5 assists in 32 games for 6 points, minus-9, on 13:13 a night with Dallas.
27 shots in 32 games. The role is a seventh defenceman who plays when somebody is hurt, and 32 games is what that produces.
The Finesse Game
Almost none remaining. The first pass is slow and the puck decisions under pressure are the reason the minutes have shrunk every year.
6 points in 32 games is roughly his rate over the last four seasons.
The Physical Game
6-2 and 200, and this is the entire remaining case. He hits, he fights, and he is willing to be the man who answers for a teammate.
33 penalty minutes in 32 games is a very high rate at 36 and it is what he is being paid for. On a club that finished 25th on the penalty kill, that arithmetic deserves a harder look than it usually gets.
The Intangibles
Fifteen seasons, six organisations, and a reputation as one of the more respected veterans in the league.
At 36 the projection is 30 games and a room presence. Whether a club two points out of the playoffs should be spending a roster spot on that is a fair question.
The numbers underneath
On the ice
Five-on-five, 2024-25 · 369 minutes
- Expected goals
- 47.6%
- 28th pct
- Shot attempts
- 50.6%
- 60th pct
share of the chances while he was out there
share of the attempts while he was out there
Goals while he was on the ice: 14 for, 18 against. Expected: 15.4 and 17.0.
The eye and the numbers
HindsightThe two rank him within 19 points of one another. It was written for a back edition, with the seasons that followed already known. Neither the agreement nor the gap says anything about the eye, and this report is excluded from the club-level comparison for the same reason.
Both bars are percentiles among the 357 skaters in this edition with a report and enough ice time. The report bar ranks the mean of the grades above — 63 on their own scale — against every other report's mean. The numbers bar ranks his share of expected goals. A gap is a disagreement about where he belongs, not two scales talking past each other.
Usual linemates
2024-25 with DAL · 369 minutes at five-on-five
- Mathew Dumbanow PIT33%
Share of his five-on-five ice time spent alongside each player, measured from shift charts. Special teams are excluded: a power-play unit is not a line.
Why the numbers land there
Five-on-five, 2024-25
- The club
- DAL took 50.7% of the expected goals as a club. His own share is 47.6% — 3.1 below the club he did it on.
- The role
- 369 minutes at five-on-five — 9th percentile in ice time.
With and without
| Teammate | Together | Him apart | Mate apart |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mathew Dumba | 48.6% | 47.0% | 50.3% |
| Matt Duchene | 37.5% | 52.6% | 52.8% |
| Mason Marchment | 38.6% | 51.5% | 50.8% |
48.6% together, 47.0% for him apart and 50.3% for Dumba apart. Splitting them up moved neither man. Whatever is driving the share, it is not this pairing.
Expected-goal share while both were on the ice, and for each man in the minutes he played without the other. Apart is the pair subtracted from his own totals. It does not settle who was carrying whom — apart from each other, both were still playing with somebody — but it does say whether the share travelled when the pairing broke up.
Where he shoots from
goal on goal missed
48 unblocked shots in 2024-25, 1 of them goals. His median goal came from 44 feet. 17% of his shots came from inside twenty feet, 65% from beyond forty.