Billy Smith (ice hockey)

Smith was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings in the fifth round of the 1970 NHL Amateur Draft from the Cornwall Royals of the QMJHL. He played two seasons with the Kings' minor league affiliate, the Springfield Kings of the American Hockey League, and won the Calder Cup with Springfield in 1970-71. He made his NHL debut with the Los Angeles Kings on February 12, 1972, at the Montreal Forum. The Kings lost 6-5 to the Canadiens. Smith faced 48 shots that afternoon, yielding the winning goal to Guy Lafleur with 22 seconds remaining in the game.

 

Smith was drafted in the 1972 NHL Expansion Draft by the New York Islanders; he was the second player picked by the team. After sharing goaltending duties with Gerry Desjardins for two years, he got the starting job all to himself in 1974–75 when Desjardins bolted to the World Hockey Association. That season, he led the Islanders to their first playoff appearance.

Smith played in the 1978 All-Star Game, of which he was named Most Valuable Player. For the next two seasons, he shared netminding duties with Chico Resch, with whom he formed perhaps the top goaltending duo in the NHL at the time. In the 1980 playoffs, however, Smith played most of the games and helped the Islanders win the first of four consecutive Stanley Cups, firmly establishing him as the team's starting goaltender. Resch was dealt to the Colorado Rockies the following season. In 1981-82 he was named a First Team All-Star and won the Vezina Trophy. In 1982-83 he and Roland Melanson won the William M. Jennings Trophy for fewest goals allowed. He was chosen to play for Canada in the 1981 Canada Cup, but was unable to play due to an injury sustained in a pre-tournament game.

Smith's regular season success was surpassed by his performances in the playoffs, as he helped the Islanders win four straight Stanley Cups (1980 to 1983), reach the finals five straight times (1980 to 1984), and win a record 19 consecutive playoff series from 1980 to 1984.

Smith was the first goalie to win the Stanley Cup wearing the helmet-and-cage combination mask, rather than the fiberglass mask which had been the standard since 1959. He switched to the helmet-and-cage in 1978.

His single most famous game may be his 2–0 victory in the first game of the 1983 Stanley Cup finals against the Edmonton Oilers, shutting out the likes of Mark Messier, Wayne Gretzky, Jari Kurri, and Paul Coffey. The Islanders swept the Oilers in four games, with Smith allowing the Oilers only six goals and winning the Conn Smythe Trophy as Most Valuable Player in the playoffs. In 1984, Smith broke the record for the most playoff victories in a career: between 1980 and 1984 he led all goaltenders in playoff victories. In 1985 he led the Islanders to three straight victories after being down 0–2 to the Washington Capitals.^[2] Smith's playoff success bolsters his reputation as the supreme "money" or "clutch" goalie of his era, the person a team would want in net with the season on the line. Teammates and observers have said that Smith seemed able to sense when he needed to be perfect to win and when he could give up five goals and still come away with the victory.

Smith was the first NHL goaltender to be credited with scoring a goal.^[3] On November 28, 1979, in a game between the Islanders and the Colorado Rockies, the Rockies took their goaltender off the ice for an extra attacker after a delayed penalty call was called on the Islanders. The puck deflected off Smith's chest protector into the corner. Rockies rookie Rob Ramage picked up the puck and accidentally made a blind pass from the corner boards in the opposing zone to the blue line. Nobody was there to receive the pass, and so the puck sailed all the way down the length of the ice and into the Rockies' net. As Smith had been the last Islanders player to touch the puck, he was credited with the goal.

Smith retired in 1989; he was the last original Islander still on the team. After four years as the Islanders' goaltending coach, he followed longtime Islander general manager Bill Torrey to the expansion Florida Panthers in the same role, serving there until his retirement in 2000. He had spent 30 years at ice level in the NHL, the last 28 of them alongside Torrey with the Islanders (1972-1992) and the Panthers (1992-2000).

The Islanders retired his jersey number 31 on February 20, 1993. Later that year, he was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. In 1998, he was ranked number 80 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.

He was nicknamed "Battlin' Billy" or "Hatchet Man" for his fiery temper and unabashed use of the stick or blocker on players crowding his crease; as such, forwards needed ankle guards to protect themselves.

Smith was also noted for his displays of feigned injuries that would often lead to penalties against opponents, for whom he carried an undisguised enmity. In Game Four of the 1983 Stanley Cup Finals, Glenn Anderson of the Edmonton Oilers collided with Smith and Smith dove upon the ice, resulting in referee Andy Van Hellemond handing a five-minute penalty to Anderson. Later Van Hellemond said that this was "making a bit of a fool of me", and when he officiated Game One of the 1984 Finals, a rematch of the Islanders and Oilers, he called no penalty when Smith and Anderson collided again.^[4]

Smith refused to participate in the traditional handshakes between teams at the end of a playoff series.

During one practice, teammate Mike Bossy fired a shot at Smith to which Smith took offence. Smith charged after Bossy with his stick but was tackled by teammates before Smith could take his frustrations out on Bossy. Bossy has noted that Smith never liked being talked to in the locker room, and kept an intense focus before and after games and practices, but was much more laid-back off the ice.^[5]

• Calder Cup championship in 1971.
• Played in 1978 NHL All-Star Game.
• Selected to the NHL First All-Star Team in 1982.
• Vezina Trophy winner in 1982.
• Conn Smythe Trophy winner in 1983.
• William M. Jennings Trophy winner in 1983 (shared with Roland Melanson).
• Stanley Cup championships in 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983.
• First NHL goalie to be credited with a goal in 1979.
• Inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993.
• His #31 jersey was retired by the New York Islanders on February 20, 1993.
• In 1998, he was ranked number 80 on The Hockey News' list of the 100 Greatest Hockey Players.
• 1978 NHL All-Star Game MVP.
• In 2016, he was inducted into his home town Perth and District Sports Hall of Fame.^[6]
• In 2017, he was listed on NHL's 100 Greatest Hockey Players^[5]

• List of NHL goaltenders with 300 wins

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or Legends of Hockey, or The Internet Hockey Database
• One for the Ages: Billy Smith's Incredible 1981-82 Season