- Doug Smail
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Doug Smail Born September 2, 1957
Moose Jaw, SK, CANHeight 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m) Weight 175 lb (79 kg; 12 st 7 lb) Position Left wing Shot Left Played for Cardiff Devils (BHL
Fife Flyers (BHL)
Ottawa Senators (NHL)
San Diego Gulls (IHL)
Quebec Nordiques (NHL)
Minnesota North Stars (NHL)
Winnipeg Jets (NHL)Playing career 1980–1996 Douglas Dean Smail (born 2 September 1957 in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan) is a retired professional ice hockey left winger who played in the NHL for thirteen seasons from 1980 through 1993.
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Playing career
Doug Smail starred at the University of North Dakota for three seasons from 1977 to 1980, scoring 87 points in 40 games in his final season in the WCHA. His performance was enough to warrant notice from the Winnipeg Jets, and the next season he was a full-time NHL player.
Smail played eleven seasons with Winnipeg, being a top two-way player for them, as he had twelve consecutive seasons in which he scored at least one shorthanded goal, with a total of 28 shorthanded goals in his career.
Perhaps Smail's greatest claim to fame was when he set the NHL record for fastest goal after the opening faceoff by scoring a goal five seconds after the game started on 20 December 1981. Smail finished his career with the Minnesota North Stars, Quebec Nordiques and Ottawa Senators, but never achieved the success he had in Winnipeg.
After Smail's NHL career was over, he played three seasons in Britain for Fife Flyers and Cardiff Devils before retiring. He was the first player ever to sign for a British team directly from an NHL team when he signed for Fife Flyers from Ottawa Senators. He now resides in Colorado with his wife and three children. Smail was the Assistant Coach of the U-16 Team Rocky Mountain AAA Hockey program, where he coached alongside former NHL player Rick Berry last year, and is now the Head Coach of the Rocky Mountain Roughriders U-15 AAA squad.
Awards
- Named to the NCAA Championship All-Tournament Team (1980)
- Named to the NCAA Championship Tournament MVP (1980)
- Played in NHL All-Star Game (1990)
- British Ice Hockey Writers Association Player of the Year (1994)
Records
- Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes franchise record for career shorthanded goals (25)
- Fastest goal to start an NHL hockey game (5 seconds)
Career statistics
Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM PM PP SH GW GP G A Pts PIM 1977–78 University of North Dakota WCHA 38 22 28 50 52 — — — — — — — — — 1978–79 University of North Dakota WCHA 35 24 34 58 46 — — — — — — — — — 1979–80 University of North Dakota WCHA 40 43 44 87 70 — — — — — — — — — 1980–81 Winnipeg Jets NHL 30 10 8 18 45 -7 1 3 1 — — — — — 1981–82 Winnipeg Jets NHL 72 17 18 35 55 -22 2 1 1 4 0 0 0 0 1982–83 Winnipeg Jets NHL 80 15 29 44 32 0 0 3 3 3 0 0 0 6 1983–84 Winnipeg Jets NHL 66 20 17 37 62 -5 1 4 2 3 0 1 1 7 1984–85 Winnipeg Jets NHL 80 31 35 66 45 +12 0 3 5 8 2 1 3 4 1985–86 Winnipeg Jets NHL 73 16 26 42 32 -10 1 3 4 3 1 0 1 0 1986–87 Winnipeg Jets NHL 78 25 18 43 36 +18 0 2 4 10 4 0 4 10 1987–88 Winnipeg Jets NHL 71 15 16 31 34 +5 0 3 5 5 1 0 1 22 1988–89 Winnipeg Jets NHL 47 14 15 29 52 +12 0 2 0 — — — — — 1989–90 Winnipeg Jets NHL 79 25 24 49 63 +15 1 1 6 5 1 0 1 0 1990–91 Winnipeg Jets NHL 15 1 2 3 10 -6 0 0 0 — — — — — 1990–91 Minnesota North Stars NHL 57 7 13 20 38 -2 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1991–92 Quebec Nordiques NHL 46 10 18 28 47 -11 0 1 1 — — — — — 1992–93 Ottawa Senators NHL 51 4 10 14 51 -34 0 0 0 — — — — — 1992–93 San Diego Gulls IHL 9 2 1 3 20 — — — — 9 3 2 5 20 1993–94 Fife Flyers Britain 53 74 65 139 114 — — — — — — — — — 1994–95 Cardiff Devils Britain 3 2 5 7 2 — — — — — — — — — 1994–95 Fife Flyers Britain 15 20 9 29 26 — — — — 6 5 9 14 12 1995–96 Cardiff Devils Britain 16 12 14 26 14 — — — — 6 3 5 8 10 13 seasons NHL career 845 210 249 459 602 -35 6 28 32 42 9 2 11 49 External links
Categories:- 1957 births
- Living people
- Canadian ice hockey left wingers
- Cardiff Devils players
- Fife Flyers players
- Ice hockey people from Saskatchewan
- Minnesota North Stars players
- National Hockey League All-Stars
- North Dakota Fighting Sioux men's ice hockey players
- Ottawa Senators players
- People from Moose Jaw
- Quebec Nordiques players
- University of North Dakota alumni
- Undrafted National Hockey League players
- Winnipeg Jets (1979–96) players
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