When speaking of Will Smith, some of the people who have watched the Lexington native over the years offer lofty comparisons.
One chief amateur scout liked him to Patrick Kane. A coach of Smith’s compared him to a younger American star, Jack Hughes.
Whether Smith can make the long trek from being just “a Patrick Kane-type player” to the next Patrick Kane remains to be seen. But most NHL prognosticators and talent evaluators believe some team will bet some valuable draft capital that the Boston College-bound forward will become the latter.
Reached last week, Smith’s excitement level was starting to build.
“I’ve been waiting for this my whole life,” said Smith. “I’m getting kind of anxious.”
Wherever he gets taken – many believe he’ll go no lower than No. 4 overall to San Jose and Boston-born GM Mike Grier, though Russian forward Matvei Michkov is a wild card – Smith won’t have to wait long to hear his name at Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena on Wednesday night.
Smith has the resume to go with the pull-fans-out-of-their-seats creativity. After playing a year at St. Sebastian’s as well as playing his local junior hockey in the Boston Jr. Eagles program, he went to the U.S. National Team Development Program in Michigan and tore it up the last two years.
Playing for the U-18 NTDP team, he exploded for 51-76-127 totals in 60 games, adding 15-27-42 in 20 games in USHL play. At the IIHF World U-18 championships in Switzerland, he was named tournament MVP in Team USA’s gold medal run, tying Hughes’ U.S. record for points in the tourney with 9-11-20 in seven games.
And according to U-18 assistant coach Chad Kolarik, Smith not only achieves at a high level, the 6-foot, 172-pound centerman does so with a particular swerve.
“His charisma, his personality makes him special,” said Kolarik. “It’s not a cocky personality, but it’s the confidence, that little swagger. He knows he’s a going to be a player out there in the clutch time. He just knows he can do it and he’s very confident in his skill. That’s what makes him special.
“I liken him a little bit to Jack Hughes but, yes, he’s a generational talent. He can make something out of nothing at any point in time. He did that multiple times in the Worlds and against college players that are 24 years old (with the NTDP program).”
Said Smith of what he brings: “I think I’m an exciting player to watch. I like to score goals as well as set them up. And I think I’m a pretty good 200-foot player as well.”
Smith did not post his points in a vacuum. He was one-third of a brilliant line with the national program that included wings Ryan Leonard of western Mass., who is the muscle for the line, and Gabe Perreault, the finisher. All three could go in the top half of the first round. In fact, TSN’s Bob McKenzie has them all going in the top 10.
And all three are headed to the Heights later this summer as a package deal, as well as USNTDP player Will Vote, who grew up in the hockey-rich town of Arlington, right next to Smith’s Lexington.
“I’ve been good friends with Will pretty much my whole hockey career,” said Smith. “It’s great that he lives just one town over and I can always just give him a call and we can go work out or whatever.”
Because he has nephews that are in Smith’s age group, BC assistant Brendan Buckley has watched Smith develop over the years. He views him as a complete offensive player.
“With him, I think it’s the combination of a guy who can take the best play available,” said Buckley. “You hear that some guys are shooters and some guys are pass-first players. I think he’s the guy that makes the best play. So if it’s dishing the puck to a teammate for a Grade A chance, if that’s the best play, he sees and it and he’s looking to do that. If it’s the best play is to go down there and take it yourself and be the shooter, then he’ll do that. I think that’s what makes him so dangerous offensively and such a high-end elite player.”
While speed may not be his best attribute, Smith is proud of how much he’s worked on his skating. Buckley can attest to that.
“That’s gotten better. He’s got some good pop now. And obviously, the skill has always been there,” said Buckley.
Buckley said that no decision with has been made about whether to play the line together at BC. Head coach Greg Brown and the staff will discuss that in the fall. And for Smith, he’ll “play “wherever the coaches want me to play.”
But getting the entire line to commit was clearly a coup.
“Absolutely,” said Buckley. “As you go out and watch those guys, they pop. It’s hard to miss them and they had great chemistry. They play well together and I think they enjoy each other’s company off the ice, so it was a kind of a natural fit.”
Kolarik, for one, expects to see the trio together before too long.
“We tried to break them up a little bit in the middle of the season, but the line was so dominant every time they were on the ice, it just wasn’t a good coaching decision to break them apart,” said Kolarik. “We had to keep them together. It just clicked. The chemistry is there, and I’m sure coach Brown at Boston College isn’t going to break those guys up any time soon.”
As for Smith’s future, there has been some debate over where the right-shot forward future lies, at center or on the wing. Mike Doneghey, director of amateur scouting for the Chicago Blackhawks, has seen Smith plenty. The ‘Hawks now sit in the catbird’s sit with the No. 1 pick and the right to draft Connor Bedard, the best prospect since Connor McDavid. Doneghy’s scouted all of the top players, not knowing where the Hawks would be picking until they won the lottery in April. He made the Kane comparison to Smith. He sees Smith making the move to wing at some point, with the idea that the responsibilities of a centerman down low would take away from from what he can do at the other end.
Smith may not be a natural 200-foot player, but he may not have to be to make his impact.
“He cheats a bit, but it benefits him a little,” said Doneghey. “There were a couple of plays that come to mind where Ryan Leonard was the first guy back in the defensive, makes a great defensive play, gets it over to Perreault, who sends it up to Will Smith, who as the last guy back ends up getting a breakaway the other way. Almost like you’ve seen Patrick Kane for a lot of years, be lazy coming back into the zone and then all of a sudden he’s got a scoring chance going the other way. Just like that. But Smith’s a magician with the puck — his puck patience, his shot, his passing ability. He has the ability to be an all-world player because of all those attributes.”
While Kolarik concedes that Smith may cheat a little bit, that’s what all great offensive players do. And he believes Smith’s smarts will allow him to play the middle.
“In the NHL, I think there’s going to be some growing pains at center But that’s with every center,” said Kolarik. “If you look at Jack Hughes’ first couple of years, it’s not bad, it’s just wasn’t elite like it is now, with 100 points. I think eventually he will be a center. He’s just so smart when he’s moving without the puck to generate that speed.”
But there is agreement that whoever gets Smith will be getting a special talent. This year’s draft is believed to be extremely deep, well beyond Bedard. Doneghey believes that, in another draft year, Smith could well have been the top pick overall.
“He’s got those attributes,” said Doneghey. “His skill level, his IQ, he’s a right shot. Though not a burner, he’s a good skater. So he he checks all the right boxes. Though if it wasn’t Bedard this year, I’d still have a hard thinking he’d be ahead of (Adam) Fantilli or (Leo) Carlsson (expected to go at Nos. 2 and 3) as No. 1, but in certain years, he’d warrant No.1 consideration.”
That sounds like a good deal for whichever team is lucky enough to land the kid from Lexington.