Penguins defenseman Ty Smith is ready to face more time in the NHL

Ty Smith has had some rough luck with his face.

To be clear, the Pittsburgh Penguins defenseman is a perfectly handsome fellow. But his face has taken a beating over the past two years.

At the end of the 2021-22 season, as a member of the New Jersey Devils, he had to drive from Newark, N.J., to Vancouver, British Columbia, where he trains, by car as a result of a deviated septum. The pressure change in a plane forced him to stay on the ground in order to trek across the continent.

Then last season, in his first campaign as a member of the Penguins organization, he was sidelined for a month and a half after suffering fractures to his upper jaw and cheekbones Feb. 15 while skating for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League.

“It’s not fun, like, breaking your face,” Smith said. “I was pushing them (medical staffers) to let me play sooner. Apparently, it wasn’t really safe to do, so I had to sit out the full six weeks. I wanted to get back out there as soon as I could. So, it was kind of frustrating towards the end because, once I was feeling better, I still couldn’t play.”

Frustration was abundant for those with a rooting interest in the Penguins over Smith’s first season with the organization. Not so much with him but with how he was stationed.

A first-round pick (No. 17 overall) of the New Jersey Devils in 2018, Smith was acquired by the Penguins in July of 2022 in a less-than-celebrated trade that sent steady second-pairing defenseman John Marino to the Garden State.

While the transaction was rooted primarily in the interest of clearing salary cap space, the return presented by Smith’s presence was minimalized because he spent the bulk of the season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.

Smith, who was in the final year of his entry-level contract, was exempt from waivers for any assignments to a minor-league affiliate and, as a result, he was sent to Northeast Pennsylvania to open the season despite having never played a minute in the AHL during his first two professional seasons with the Devils.

After re-signing with the Penguins this past offseason, agreeing to a one-year, one-way contract worth $775,000, Smith is no longer “immune” from waivers should the team want to once again assign him to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Presumably, a talent like him would get claimed were he to be exposed to waivers.

“It’s something that you just try to not really think about,” Smith said. “You want to be (your) best anytime you are out there, the best you can be. It’s something that you can work towards, just being as good as you can every opportunity you get, waivers or no waivers.”

Smith appears to be getting plenty of opportunities on the right side of the ice in this training camp and preseason despite being a left-handed shot. During a 4-3 preseason road loss to the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena, Smith was primarily deployed on the right side of the second pairing, logging a team-best 22:18 of ice time on 28 shifts with one shot attempt and two blocked shots.

When injuries ravaged the starboard side of the Penguins’ defense last season, he was recalled to the NHL roster in late December and primarily deployed on the right portion of whatever defensive pairing he joined. In nine NHL contests, he had four points (one goal, three assists).

He professes a level of comfort on either side of the rink.

“Honestly, it doesn’t make a difference for me,” Smith said. “My four years of junior hockey, I played the right side the entire time. It was actually an adjustment moving to the left side when I got to (New) Jersey. They had me on both sides in (New) Jersey as well here and there. Probably more so the left. But I like both sides. I’m comfy on either side.”

Rounding out his game, particularly the defensive side of it, would make management more comfortable in potentially including him in the season-opening roster.

“The strengths of his game are in his puck-moving ability,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “They are in his offensive instincts, his ability to join the rush, his ability to be active off the offensive blue line. But he also has to play a game that is calculated and can’t be high-risk. … He’s going to have to be selective on when and how he does those things. We don’t want to become a team that plays a high-risk game. For him to make this roster, he’s going to have to make an impact in that regard.”

Fully healthy and signed to a contract that will increase the odds of him staying in the NHL, Smith is ready to face that challenge.

“I feel good, man,” Smith said. “The body feels good. I had a good summer. Came into camp feeling good.”