U.S. Success - Craig Smith

by preds4ever on May 11, 2011 11:11 PM EDT

Craig Smith isn't one of those players that get much attention from prospects magazines and he flies under the radar in a lot of the Nashville Predators sites. But he was one of if not the best players on the U.S. World Championship team that was eliminated by the home favorite Czech Republic team 4-0 today in Bratislava, Slovakia.

Smith, a native of Madison WI, was drafted in the 4th round of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft by the Nashville Predators. In 2009-2010 he played alongside hometown Hobey Baker Trophy winner Blake Geoffrion in Wisconsin, notching 33 points in 41 games.

In the 2011 IIHF World Championship Smith notched 6 points (3 goals, 3 assists) in 7 games on the line with Derek Stepan and Blake Wheeler. He had 2 goals and 1 assist on the power play. On Versus, after the U.S. loss, soon to be restricted free agent Zach Parise praised the young Center saying that this is very good news for the Nashville Predators. One can only hope that the success can eventually extend to the NHL level where he can meet back with linemate Geoffrion and get started where they left off.

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Really bad showing by Team USA in this tournament.

You know somethings wrong when we could barely beat France 3-2. I doubt Gordon will get to coach Team USA again anytime soon.

But Smith clearly is a kid to keep an eye on as he makes his way thru our system. Have to see if he stays in college for another year or heads to Milwaukee next season.

by Grizzledbear on May 12, 2011 12:00 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

Yeah but it wasn't exactly a star studded team.

In fact the roster didn’t have any olympians.

by preds4ever on May 12, 2011 12:27 AM EDT up reply actions

Jack Johnson was on the olympic team, IIRC. But it did seem like a number of guys who could have played passed up the opportunity. Still, 3-2 against France…….ugh.

by Grizzledbear on May 12, 2011 12:38 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions

Yeah the roster for Gordon wasn’t anything to be bragging about. Seems like they wanted to give a lot of up-and-coming talent a shot at the big stage and a chance to grow. Smith did look good when I noticed him. Seems like he made the most of his opportunity.

I’m not sure if American players passed up the chance or if they just weren’t invited. There were a lot of player that I would have thought would have gone if invited. Dustin Brown is one that pops in my mind right off the bat. That guy is such a competitor that I’m sure he’d jump at the chance. I doubt all our bigger name guys (Ryan, Brown, Martin, Johnson, Oprik, Langenbrunner, Kane, etc.) would all pass it up. I think they just wanted to use the guys the originally expected to see how some young Americans did on the world stage. Hard to say exactly, but overall a fairly pathetic showing by the US.

by JasonF on May 12, 2011 1:53 AM EDT up reply actions