DETROIT — The Detroit Red Wings claimed center Gemel Smith off waivers from the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Smith, 27, has yet to play this season while recovering from a lower-body injury. The eighth-year pro is the older brother of Red Wings forward Givani Smith and has spent the past three seasons in Tampa Bay’s system, splitting time between the Lightning and American Hockey League’s Syracuse Crunch during the organization’s back-to-back Stanley Cup championship runs. Smith has logged 88 NHL games with the Dallas Stars, Boston Bruins and Lightning, notching 24 points (12-12-24), a plus-three rating and 53 penalty minutes. The 5-foot-10, 203-pound forward has also skated in 286 career AHL games between the Texas Stars, Providence Bruins and Crunch and compiled 172 points (76-96-172), a plus-21 rating and 195 penalty minutes since making his professional debut in 2014-15.
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Originally drafted by the Stars in the fourth round (104th overall) of the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, Smith is a Toronto, Ontario, native who played four seasons in the Ontario Hockey League prior to turning pro, picking up 203 points (89-114-203), a plus-33 rating and 166 penalty minutes in 264 games with the Owen Sound Attack and London Knights from 2010-14. Smith also registered 28 points (12-16-28), a plus-four rating and 31 penalty minutes in 47 OHL postseason games and twice played in the Canadian Hockey League’s Memorial Cup with Owen Sound (2011) and London (2014). Smith also twice won a medal with Canada on the international stage, winning gold at the 2011 Hlinka Gretzky Cup and capturing bronze at the 2012 IIHF World Under-18 Championship.
| … Goaltender Ranks Second in AHL in Wins and Save Percentage … DETROIT – The Detroit Red Wings today reassigned goaltender Calvin Pickard to the team’s taxi squad from the American Hockey League’s Grand Rapids Griffins. Pickard, 28, ranks among the AHL’s top goaltenders this season with 13 wins (2nd), 1,541:40 minutes played (1st), a 2.34 goals-against average (6th), 783 saves (1st) and a 0.929 save percentage (2nd) in 26 games for Grand Rapids this season. Pickard saw time in three different leagues in 2020-21, notching a 2-1-1 record with a 3.16 goals-against average and 0.874 save percentage in six games with the Red Wings in addition to playing three games with the Griffins and six for the Vienna Capitals in Austria’s top professional league. Pickard has appeared in nine games for Detroit over the last two seasons and has made 113 appearances in his NHL career, logging a 34-53-10 record, 3.01 goals-against average, 0.904 save percentage and four shutouts with the Colorado Avalanche, Toronto Maple Leafs, Philadelphia Flyers, Arizona Coyotes and Red Wings. A 10th-year pro, Pickard has also played 262 AHL games with the Lake Erie Monsters, San Antonio Rampage, Toronto Marlies, Tucson Roadrunners and Griffins since 2011-12. The 6-foot-1, 210-pound netminder has a 124-92-24 record, 2.62 goals-against average, 0.914 save percentage and 16 shutouts. Originally drafted by the Avalanche in the second round (49th overall) of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft, Pickard spent his entire major-junior career with the Western Hockey League’s Seattle Thunderbirds from 2008-12, totaling a 91-120-27 record, 3.29 goals-against average, 0.909 save percentage and 12 shutouts. The Moncton, New Brunswick, native has also represented Canada at the 2016 and 2017 IIHF World Championships, winning a gold and silver medal, respectively.  |
