Prospect Reilly Smith update

by Happy Girl on Feb 13, 2012 7:45 PM CST

If you get CBS Sports channel, you can check out Stars prospects Reilly Smith and Curtis McKenzie this Friday, 2/17, at 7:30 PM, as the Notre Dame Fighting Irish take on the Miami Redhawks. McKenzie tweeted earlier today that CBS has been following Smith around. So I'm hoping there is an intermission feature on Reilly. There's lots of speculation among Redhawks fans if this could be Reilly's last year in Oxford. His older brother Brendan, who played at Wisconsin, left after his JR year to play in Grand Rapids, Detroit's farm team.

This is a user-created FanPost and does not necessarily reflect the views of SB Nation or Defending Big D. FanPost opinions are valued expressions of opinion by passionate and knowledgeable hockey and Dallas Stars fans.

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Beat the Irish!

"Graham's Week in Sports," my blog.

Never, under any circumstances, should you ever make fun of Brandon Worley.

by DFWTrojanTuba on Feb 13, 2012 8:05 PM CST reply actions

THE Brendan Smith?

good hockey genes.

Something Clever.

by AA6 on Feb 14, 2012 1:56 AM CST reply actions

If I don't have much going on I'm definitely gonna catch that game.

I’m excited that Smith and a few other prospects might be making their way to Austin next year.

"The Dallas Cowboys announced they have released Jerry Jones."

by T-rom on Feb 14, 2012 12:24 PM CST reply actions

I wonder if i get this channel.

Defending Big D

by Brad Gardner on Feb 14, 2012 12:41 PM CST reply actions

What is the big deal?

Can someone tell me why Reilly is getting so much attention? Austin Smith and Alex Chiasson are both putting up better numbers? Does it have to do with quality of competition or the players around them or other aspects of their games or is the national attention for Reilly completely arbitrary? I hope this does not sound like an attack, I actually meant it to sound inquisitive?

by Newt Goodler on Feb 15, 2012 3:43 PM CST reply actions

Austin Smith is a few years older than Reilly and Chiassons numbers arent as good. I have pretty high hopes for both Reilly Smith and Chiasson to be top 6 wingers and while Austin Smith has had an amazing year he is more of a long shot to be impactful in the nhl.

by TimAH on Feb 15, 2012 5:54 PM CST up reply actions

It has a lot to do with his age and quality of competition, like you said.

Defending Big D

by Brad Gardner on Feb 16, 2012 12:46 PM CST up reply actions

I think there are a lot of reasons to be high on Reilly Smith

Here’s the breakdown:

Austin Smith, 5’11", 180 pounds, 23 years old, plays for Colgate in the ECAC. Currently Colgate isn’t even in the top 20 of the Pairwise Rankings (PWR) and wouldn’t even make the NCAA tourney if it started today. Only 1 ECAC team would currently make the NCAA tourney if the tournament was seeded today, and that team is Cornell. His junior year, A Smith was 10-21-31 in 41 games. Sophomore year was 16-25-41 in 36 games. During the past 3 seasons he averages 1.11 pts per game and mostly that is from his performance this season. He has 5 GWGs.

Alex Chiasson, 6’3", 200 pounds, 21 years old, plays for Boston University in Hockey East. Currently they rank #3 in the pairwise rankings and are one of six HE teams in the top 20 of the PWR. Chiasson’s freshman year he went 7 – 12 – 19 in 35 games. Sophomore year he went 14 – 20 – 34 in 35 games. Currently he is 11-20 – 31 in 27 games. Three year average of 0.87 points per game.

Reilly Smith, 6’1", 183 pounds, is 20 years old, plays for Miami University in the CCHA. Currently the Redhawks are ranked #13 in the PWR and are one of NINE CCHA schools in the top 20 of the Pairwise rankings. Reilly’s freshman year he went 8 – 12 – 20 in 44 games. Sophomore year he went 28-26-54 in 38 games. Currently is 21-9-30 in 30 games. Reilly is tied for first in the Nation with seven GWGs. He averages 0.93 points per game.

As you can see from the PWR, Reilly plays in a more competitive league than Austin Smith and quite honestly a more competitive league than BU. Reilly is also playing on a line with 2 freshman. Reilly is a pure goal scorer, and scores key goals as witnessed by his league leading 7 GWGs this year.

Not to diminish any of the accomplishments of Austin Smith, but when you take his age and his prior scoring history, this year is a bit of an anomaly for him. If you take out this year’s stats, he’s averaging 0.90 points per game, which I think provides a more accurate assessment of his skill.

In regard to Chiasson, he has one more point this year than Reilly. They had pretty comparable freshman years, but Reilly blew him out of the water their sophomore years with 20 more points. I’ve not seen Chiasson play, so I can’t really comment on his skill level or ability. But he’s averaging fewer points per game than Reilly over the past three seasons. He also has a year on Reilly and is bigger.

Finally, I talk about Reilly because I am a Miami U alum. I watch a lot of their games and I am excited for the potential I believe he will bring to the Stars. I’ve talked to a few people within the Stars org about Reilly and they all share my enthusiasm for his potential.

Not only does he score key goals, he is very sound defensively, blocks shots, plays on the PP and PK and is double teamed practically every shift on the ice because Miami really lacks a strong second line. If we had that second line, like we did last year, I believe his production this season would be similar to last season. Reilly goes through players – not around. He’s not afraid to muck it up in the corners and can handle his own in front of the net. He shows a lot of maturity and excellent hockey decision making.

If you have the chance to see Reilly play, I think you will see why he generates a lot of attention. There are some games, he doesn’t even score, but is still the most dominant player on the ice for either team. He has the ability to change the course of a game. I’ve not seen that from Austin Smith.

I wish I had more experience with Chiasson, but I don’t watch many Hockey East contests. Chiasson might deserve more attention but I’m not a BU alum and quite honestly, I just put this fan post up to give Stars fans a chance to see Reilly and also Stars prospect Curtis McKenzie on Friday.

If Alex Guptill can keep up his scoring over the course of the next three years, he’s another prospect that could be very dominant at the University of Michigan. Guptill struggles with decision making and can take some stupid penalties. He’s got some great intensity though. He’s struggled in the past with work ethic but Red will take care of that at Michigan or Alex will be on the next bus home to Canada.

sorry to talk about Reilly so much. I’ll stop posting it here.

just a girl who loves Miami U Redhawks and Dallas Stars.

by Happy Girl on Feb 16, 2012 8:11 PM CST reply actions

Nice to hear from a girl that follows college hockey so intently! We need more Stars fans that are knowledgeable about our prospects. I see very little college hockey.

I will pick a minor issue with your comment about Austin Smith. If you throw out any year from the discussion, it should be last season, when he play through a torn labrum in his hip, which required off-season surgery.

That’s not to discount any of your other observations. I especially like your comment about Guptil’s coach, Red Berenson. He was a neighbor when I grew up in St. Louis (and childhood hero), and I have nothing but respect for him and his family. Quality people!

by denniso on Feb 20, 2012 10:44 PM CST up reply actions

I thought Rielly looked pretty good today. He skated well and showed that he can really dangle. He played a more physical game than i expected which was nice but at the same time I am a little afraid that with his build trying to be physical in the NHL would get him physically dominated.

by TimAH on Feb 17, 2012 11:56 PM CST reply actions

Awesome! I’m glad you watched the game. I was there, right be the visiting team’s penalty box.

I think he’ll continue to get bigger. Right now, Reilly’s around 180. But he’s gained weight each year since his first year at Miami. I’d imagine his frame could easily handle another 10 – 15 pounds easily. He’s been working with Gary Roberts on conditioning and diet. Miami also has a great training staff.

I’d imagine a more likely NHL playing weight would be closer to 190 – 195. The CCHA has always been a big, tough league. The fact that he’s been able to come in as a freshman, a true freshman at 18 years old, and handle getting tossed around by the big guys who are between 22 – 24 years old, I think says a lot about his toughness.

just a girl who loves Miami U Redhawks and Dallas Stars.

by Happy Girl on Feb 18, 2012 2:44 PM CST up reply actions

190-195 seems like a reasonable weight for him in the NHL. I would have liked to see him fire the pick more. There was a play where he had the puck in the middle of the ice with a pretty good shooting lane and he passed the puck which killed the play.

I was also fairly impressed with Austin Cizarnik who I guess is available for this draft although apparently not for the first time. He’s a pretty small kid but looked to have good skills. Maybe he’d be worth a late round pick or just keeping an eye on him for the next few years.

by TimAH on Feb 19, 2012 3:23 PM CST up reply actions