Veteran forward Craig Smith has the opportunity to play in today’s Winter Classic after all. The Chicago Blackhawks announced they’ve activated Smith from the injured reserve after missing the last eight games with a back injury.
Smith is expected to reprise his role on the Blackhawks’ fourth line next to Pat Maroon and Lukas Reichel. He scored six goals and 10 points in 26 games before going down with an injury in mid-December.
Unlike many of his fellow teammates in Chicago, this won’t be the first time Smith has skated in a Winter Classic. He participated in the 2023 Winter Classic between the Boston Bruins and Pittsburgh Penguins as a member of the former but failed to find the scoresheet after skating in only 5:32 of the game.
Beyond the 2023 matchup, Smith also went scoreless in the 2020 Winter Classic as a member of the Nashville Predators. Since today will be the third outdoor game of his career, Smith will tie for 46th on the NHL’s record of outdoor games played.
Although Smith’s scoring has moderately increased compared to last year with the Dallas Stars, his defensive play has seen some shortcomings. He’s typically hovered between 91% to 93% in on-ice save percentage in all situations but it has fallen to 88.7% this year with the Blackhawks.
Thankfully, he doesn’t have too much responsibility when healthy allowing some of the defensive shortcomings to be overlooked. Still, as one of multiple veteran players brought in last summer, Smith holds an important task in helping develop some of his younger peers.