Height: 5-11
Weight: 190
Shoot: L
Born: 29 Jun 1948, Kingston ON
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Regular Season & Playoff Scoring Record (key)
| year | team | |||||||||||
| 1973-74 | Minnesota | |||||||||||
| 1974-75 | Minnesota | |||||||||||
| 1975-76 | Minnesota | |||||||||||
| Totals: |
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Excerpts from Pro Hockey, WHA 1975-76 (by Dan Proudfoot)
Rick Smith was an immediate hit in the Boston Garden when he arrived in 1968, a fresh kid from the farm team who eventually got to play as Bobby Orr's defence partner. Bruins, however, considered him expendable. He was sentenced, along with Reg Leach (who's gone on to be a 50-goal shooter with Philadelphia Flyers) and Bob Stewart to the California Golden Seals. Bruins got Carol Vadnais in return, so both teams were happy. What happened next is another chapter of the story that brought happiness to the World Hockey Association. Charles O. Finley owned the Seals and was as much of a penny-pinching tyrant as he was in baseball. His Oakland A's baseball players had to put up with him; his hockey players had the choice of moving to the WHA and great numbers of them did switch. Today the Bruins are struggling on the verge of decline. The Golden Seals never did fully recover from Finley's ownership. And Rick Smith is doing fine, thank you, 27 years old and still developing with a team that's on its way up. Bobby Orr should be so lucky. |
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Excerpts from Zander Hollander's Guide to Pro Hockey, 1975-76 (by Reyn Davis)
Voted the Saints' best defenseman by writers and broadcasters who cover the team... Temperament has mellowed somewhat since breaking into the NHL in 1968 as a bashing, almost belligerent Boston Bruin... Has a degree in biology... Spent the past summer furthering his education... Member of Team Canada 1974... Has a sizzling low shot that helped him accumulate nine goals... Fashionable dresser... Days as an NHL journeyman included stint as California Golden Seals captain. |
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