All things 'Billy Smith'

[The Panther]

What do y'all make of Battlin' Billy Smith? Obviously played on the edge (or way over it), and, like most goalies, had a few screws loose, but certainly got the job done -- to the tune of 4 Stanley Cups, a Vezina (1st-team All Star), a Jennings, and a Conn Smythe.

From 1975 to 1984 (nine seasons), his regular season record is 195-94-55 (.647) and his playoff record is 84-28 (.750). In the mid-70s through early-80s, his GAA hovered around 2.7 at a time when a lot of starters were at 3.5 or higher. (In 1982-83, he was still at 2.87 GAA when the League average was 3.86.)

Every time I see old clips of Smith in action, I'm always surprised by how "modern" his equipment and style looks compared to most goaltenders of that era. At times, he almost looks like a forerunner of Dominik Hašek when he would flop around in the crease, using any position possible to stop a puck. Smith seemed to do that, too.

I'm old enough only to vaguely remember seeing Smith towards the end of his career when he a bit past his prime (he still put up a winning record as late as 1987-88). But even back in '84, when I was 8 years old, I still remember how much Oilers' fans hated him! Smith must have been enemy #1 in about 1/2 the NHL rinks.

Of course, we can't talk about him without mentioning his altercations with various players. Some of these videos are great (hard not to laugh at the first one!):


(Does anyone remember the titular Smith vs. Clarke incident?)


Here he is high-sticking Lindy Ruff and giving him the scar he still has to this day:



Then, there are numerous incidents with Edmonton in '81, '83, and '84:

(These also show him to be quite a good diver, it must be said!)

Here he is being presented the Conn Smythe... not exactly endearing himself to Edmonton fans in the process:



Hilarious to see Scott Stevens tackle Billy here!:



Feature on how Smith was the "dirtiest player" in hockey (with Smith interview):



And of course his '100 Greatest Players' Profile:



Does anybody else find his style interesting, in retrospect? What are your memories?

 

[Michael Farkas]

I penned this largely nonsensical post in December of 2012, the parts about Billy Smith's game are the meat of it...

I've watched nothing but Islanders games from that era the past few days - chiefly the 1982 and 1983 Stanley Cup Finals. I'm not prepared to present a meaningful report, though I don't think a couple extra games will change what I've seen so far.

Let's get this out of the way right now. I always default to the view of a scout or a coach when watching a game. I sat and watched and took notes on things as if I had never seen these players before ever (that #99 on Edmonton can play, watch out for him in the next draft...). Let me say this right now, because I had my doubts going in, Billy Smith is a very good goaltender.

Now, unfortunately, by the time I looked at the game analytically, goaltending had already evolved into what it has today. Cookie cutter. Watching these "pure" goalies from before the butterfly proliferated play is a treat. It's no wonder it's definitive who was the top tier and who was the bottom, there were good goalies and bad goalies. Just like there were good centers and bad centers, good defensemen and bad defensemen. Those elements still exist today, except all the goalies are basically the same. And moreover, the worst ones seem to end up winning. That's for another time...

So, I said that to say this: I didn't grow up in the era in which these goalies developed. I don't have that first-hand experience of the evolution of the position. Killion could probably do a better job pointing out the technical aspects of what I'm looking at with the old guard of net guardians. So I fell back on fundamental principles. Some say "positioning" - I say, "kind of..." ...the thing I look for is anticipation. I love a goalie that reads a play well, show me a goalie that can do that and I'll show you a pro.

That's why I get into trouble sometimes being called a hypocrite because I rail against "system" goaltenders like Thomas and Giguere and Osgood but am a heavy proponent of Martin Brodeur.

Brodeur has maybe the best anticipation I've ever seen. His read of the play is phenom status. That's why he was successful. That's why he's successful now, that's why he was successful when he started. Stevens or no Stevens. DPE or not. Trap or no trap. Multiple eras, all success. All from anticipation.

Anyhow, Billy Smith's anticipation impressed me a great deal. He's not flashy (as C1958 alluded to), he's not a gumby in the nets. It's really terrific and so easy to appreciate the different styles that clashed in the 80's there. The Oilers are a roller hockey team. It's up and back, here and turnover and back, and score and backhand pass and no-look and all this...it's all excitement. With the Islanders, it's all very deliberate. Controlled breakout, three men back at all times (sometimes you feel like they're playing with an extra one...every time the camera pans over you're thinking "ok, I think I saw four Islanders back that way, this should be 1 on 1" and then they pan over and sure enough: it's always two. Always. It was uncanny).

Billy Smith is great at anticipating. His saves don't look amazing to anyone not paying close attention. But he tracks the puck so well and understands what kind of shot is coming and reacts. Some goaltenders from that era "throw a glove" at it and hope for the best. Smith put his glove in the right spot and made a save. I was very impressed. He catches it and quickly keeps the play moving to a d-man, they go D to D to ward off the forecheck and they're off. Only after it's sure that safe possession has been maintained does Bryan Trottier or Butch Goring or Anders Kallur leave the zone.

Smith is a fine skater and a fine goaltender.

Now with that said, I'll still take Fuhr over him for reasons already mentioned. Smith was not exposed to the elements on Long Island. This is what I always talk about, "don't let the stats create the narrative...the story unfolded, now see if the face-value numbers back it up and if they don't, something is amiss..." As we see by the style of play and the success of other goalies that played for the Isles during that time, the Isles were gonna make it work to some degree regardless. Smith was not a liability to the team though like, say, Osgood was to Detroit (can it, Wings fans, we know, he was the greatest and it's a conspiracy and the league is out to get him, we know... ). Or even if not a liability, a weak link. The weakest. There, that's better than liability. Less hate mail that way. Smith isn't that. He's very much a positive influence and a major cog in that dynasty.

This changes for me, not that Smith is over Fuhr...no. That's not gonna happen. That's incorrect, I feel. However, it changes that Smith will get his due from me sooner rather than later. I was feeling out as to how close to the "cliff" (40) Smith is going to get before I finally bend. That won't be the case anymore. This was a good goalie in a good situation. As much as I like to support goalies that out-performed backups and were on bad teams and weren't protected with left wing locks and neutral zone traps and kitties barring doors...there's no reason to discount Billy Smith like some of the other system goalies that will probably come up at the tail end of this project.

Sorry for the long post, I didn't want to discuss all this much yet, but it'll save me from making a longer post when my film work is done I suppose.

I want make it clear once more though...I don't think we should be prepared to put him on the list yet. But this isn't a goalie we should let sit and wait around for too terribly long either. Honestly, I was wondering if he was top-35 before I did this homework. Top-30 is no longer a question for me.

 

[NickyFotiu]

He was as clutch as they come but he swung a mean and heavy stick. I respect the guys clutch play but I do not respect how he swung his stick at guys. I'm far from a pacifist when it comes to hockey but you really feel it when you get hit with those goalie sticks.

 

[SealsFan]

I hated the Islanders passionately but there were two players on that team I liked and respected - Smitty and Lorne Henning.

 

[Killion]

^^^ Well, I "liked" Billy Smith when he stuck to playing Goal including being aggressive but I did not like, didnt respect his gutless slashes & butt-ends, blockers to the back of guys heads etc & then as a Goalie never had to put up? He did it to get into the oppositions head, the most base form of doing so that exists. Theres clearing your crease & then theres clearing your crease & you shouldnt be doing it maliciously with what in his case was either deliberate intent to injure or just a complete lack of respect & critical thought for his opponents, take no prisoners psychopathy that has absolutely no place in the game at anytime in any era. Only through luck did he not end someones career while shortening the careers of a few with his reckless play.... Yet when he stuck to playing his position clean, excellent little goalie, hybrid. Money player. Underrated in the pantheons and he only has himself to blame for it.... bit facile I suppose, but I also disliked his equipment rig, those idiotic birdcages with helmets, the straps at the top of his pads barely done up...

 

[McGuillicuddy]

I also disliked his equipment rig, those idiotic birdcages with helmets, the straps at the top of his pads barely done up...

That's pretty subjective - nothing you can really hold against him as either a person or a goalie. His Koho+birdcage was barely any different from others being used at the time (no chin guard). He never took an injury there so it appears to have been a good decision (although I loved his old fibreglass mask:

As for the loose straps at the top, isn't that fairly common? I've always left those straps loose, although I have spent more time playing in the butterfly era than yourself (which I started after reading the Tony Esposito portion of Plante's book).

 

[McGuillicuddy]

Also, this is one of my favourite hockey cards ever .

 

[Crosbyfan]

He was obviously a good goalie but I remember him as the POS that he was. I can't remember really disliking any of the Islanders anywhere close to that degree.

 

[tailgunner]

Gotta love how scott stevens just destroyed him and his fake hairpiece lol

 

[FerrisRox]

but I also disliked his equipment rig, those idiotic birdcages with helmets, the straps at the top of his pads barely done up...

I always found it odd how, toward the end of his career, black crept into his gear.

Smith was one of the first guys to wear color co-ordinated equipment with blue and orange pads, but in the early 80's he began using a black KOHO stick, which was a little strange because they made blue sticks that would have matched his teams color scheme.

Then, in the post-Cup years leading up to his retirement, Smith began actually using black equipment. I think it began with a black blocker and eventually black pads too. Strangely he would pair this up with a blue and orange catcher.

 

[VanIslander]

 

[Killion]

That's pretty subjective - nothing you can really hold against him as either a person or a goalie. His Koho+birdcage was barely any different from others being used at the time (no chin guard). He never took an injury there so it appears to have been a good decision....

As for the loose straps at the top, isn't that fairly common? I've always left those straps loose, although I have spent more time playing in the butterfly era than yourself (which I started after reading the Tony Esposito portion of Plante's book).

Subjective/objective, combination of both. Subjectively I simply didnt like the helmet/cage combination in terms of look, comfort & functionality. It was the injury to Bernie Parents' eye that precipitated the demise of the molded mask & saw Dave Dryden introducing the combination semi-mold with cage while at the same time goaltenders switching to the helmet/cage combo. The molded masks outlawed by various leagues. Like mandatory helmets for skaters, I have a problem with it. Always have. You get one freak accident to Parent, the death of Bill Masterton (who shouldnt have been playing at all), Dr. Tom Pashby, an Opthamologist who spearheaded (along with Red Kelly) the institution mandatory helmets & cages (after his son lost an eye in an amateur game)... and....

Massive over-reaction & lobbying to have helmets mandated, molded masks banned & so on & so on & so on.... all resulting in an increase in head injuries as players began getting their sticks up, feeling of being impervious, invincible, lack of respect for the head, fair game. Smith more than any other Goalie at that time popularized the use of the helmet/cage, and ya, he did need it because of the way in which he played during his salad days when the Isles were winning Cups as he was universally despised throughout the league, the target of Head Hunters. He needed all the protection he could get, though the cage design he used along with other models could be breached by an errant or deliberate surgical strike with a stick or a hard shot, however, it never happened and that I chalk down to pure good luck, just as I chalk it down to bad luck that Parent got injured.

... as for the rest of Smiths rig....

I always found it odd how, toward the end of his career, black crept into his gear.

Smith was one of the first guys to wear color co-ordinated equipment with blue and orange pads, but in the early 80's he began using a black KOHO stick, which was a little strange because they made blue sticks that would have matched his teams color scheme.

Then, in the post-Cup years leading up to his retirement, Smith began actually using black equipment. I think it began with a black blocker and eventually black pads too. Strangely he would pair this up with a blue and orange catcher.

... so, what kind of Moron uses a black stick, black blocker & pads that like no other color exposes the white of the net behind him giving shooters so massive an advantage? Or was it just plain arrogance? Knowing they could "see white", all the open net behind him but Billy there figuring he was "so evil, so good" that they'd just shoot the black puck at his ominous-scary black pads? Black puck meet black pads/blocker. Goes together like ham & cheese, right?.... yeah, dont think so.... maybe in some bizarro world alternate reality, real dumb reverse psychological trick with absolutely no basis whatsoever in fundamental behavioral sciences? Gimme a break..... Then there was the whole introduction of colored goalie pads, blockers & gloves, Smith again the leading light in leading the charge with that hideous development. Colorists, psychologists advising manufacturers. Total VooDooo Science in addition to being a fashion crime, the leader of it in Smith not the kind of erudite intellectual along the lines of a Plante, Roy, Brodeur or a Hasek, an entirely different breed who got into his opponents heads through fear.... not in the more traditional & gentlemanly way's in creating psychological blocks in his opponents... leaving them nothing to shoot at, forcing them to shoot wide & so on, having them gripping their sticks far too tightly, shooting early, late, foolishly. Billy Smith was a Junkyard Dog. Rabid. Feral.

Now. All that being said.... He was a fighter.... Battlin Billy..... Never said die and if anyone was gonna do any killin it was Billy himself.... This guy was an anomaly. Very unusual & in his own way quite brilliant, one of the greatest Money Playing Goalies All Time. That doesnt necessarily mean that I or anyone else should then "approve of his total game", that his approach to the game & how the position is played (including the choice of his gear, short loose fitting colored or God Almighty Black pads) should be emulated, copied. There are elements to his game that one should copy, none of it original to Billy btw, and ya, you want your Goalie to be aggressive, clear the crease, work in conjunction with Defence & Back~checking Forwards, but you dont want a guy going psycho on people, lose it the way he did. So much for cool, calm collected. Steadying anchor, rock back there in the crease. Lumberjack headcase. Goon Show. And what was even more scary about this guy was that he appeared to have like a split personality. Nearly blinds some poor Schmuck with a sucker butt-ender or whatever, not contrite, not apologetic, wasnt an accident, deliberate, malicious. Leaves a mess for his teammates to clean-up. Leans back on his post watching mayhem unfold & highly entertained by it all. That he didnt get massively suspended is a wonder. Testament to the times, era in which he played.

 

[Doctor No]

You get one freak accident to Parent

Although I agree with your general thesis, don't forget about Gerry Desjardins.

 

[McGuillicuddy]

Although I agree with your general thesis, don't forget about Gerry Desjardins.

I honestly don't know how you can tell what his general thesis is. Just that Billy was a nut? I guess that's hard to dispute. But with all the criticism of his gear choices in there (admittedly the black pads were odd) I don't think you can dispute that this setup was anything but pure awesome:

For me, Billy Smith and the way he played represents all the emotions that go on inside me when I play goal. If I were to act on them all I'd be a lot like Billy Smith. On better days I can keep it all in check and appear outwardly more like Grant Fuhr. I'm a way better goalie when I'm acting like Fuhr than the days were I look like Smith.

 

[Killion]

I honestly don't know how you can tell what his general thesis is. Just that Billy was a nut? I guess that's hard to dispute. But with all the criticism of his gear choices in there (admittedly the black pads were odd) I don't think you can dispute that this setup was anything but pure awesome:

For me, Billy Smith and the way he played represents all the emotions that go on inside me when I play goal. If I were to act on them all I'd be a lot like Billy Smith. On better days I can keep it all in check and appear outwardly more like Grant Fuhr. I'm a way better goalie when I'm acting like Fuhr than the days were I look like Smith.

.... Mister McGuilliciddy.... the only thing "awesome" about Wild Billy's setup in that photo above is his Cooper GM12 Waffleboard Blocker & its pretty hard to screw that up though I can see he did try in taking his black Crayon... Magic Marker to the white plastic insert though he didnt quite finish the job, narcoleptic attack perhaps, fell asleep in his linguine; face-plant.... Yeah. This'll look cool.... And I'll leave 3 or 4 white, VooDoo Hex, like eyeballs, psych em' out. ... but the rest of it?... Cheater sized GM12 Trapper, JOFA pads... JOFA never did get that right & exhibit 'A' staring you right in the face in that portrait above of Sweet William.... Mask, one of the ugliest God Almighty Donald Duck models ever made & gee, ain that paint job just swell? Pumpkinhead.... and what happened to his stick? Koho. Where are the colorful metallic bands above the heel on the wide part of the paddle?... what unlucky player wound up with Dr. Smiths Dental Floss dangling out of his mouth with a freshly broken set of smashed & fractured teef?

 

[FerrisRox]

More weirdness from Billy's "black" phase...

Here is in the full black, black pads and both gloves in black.

Maybe I'm imagining things, but it almost looks like that blocker is not factory black. That almost looks like it's been painted black. Odd.

And here's another shot from the "black" era with Billy wearing a helmet/cage combo I don't recall him ever wearing.

So here we see the black blocker again (with orange trim) and again it suspiciously looks like it might have been painted black. Even stranger, his black pads have brown straps and his black catcher appears to have brown laces.

 

[VanIslander]

It's Fashion Week at Hfboards.

 

[McGuillicuddy]

It's Fashion Week at Hfboards.

Next up is Great Mullets of the 80s and 90s .

 

[McGuillicuddy]

... but the rest of it?... Cheater sized GM12 Trapper, JOFA pads... JOFA never did get that right & exhibit 'A' staring you right in the face in that portrait above of Sweet William.... Mask, one of the ugliest God Almighty Donald Duck models ever made & gee, ain that paint job just swell?

Those are Koho pads...

Also the first time I've heard that much vitriol for the classic Harrison mask. Same model as Liut's which, frankly, is above reproach.

 

[DisgruntledGoat*]

Sigh... back when players had personality (actual personality, not twitter nonsense), had unique playing styles. On-ice charisma.

Billy Smith was a genuine villain. I think Islander fans even would agree with that. I hated him in the day. Miss him and his ilk now.

 

[CaptBrannigan]

What a picture. Clubbing one guy with (presumably) his last victim prone on the ice.

 

[Killion]

Those are Koho pads... Also the first time I've heard that much vitriol for the classic Harrison mask. Same model as Liut's which, frankly, is above reproach.

.... Koho's?... you sure about that?... If so, even worse... I had a Greg Harrison mask ... nice guy.... he's allowed to make the odd design mistake... and all I can tell you is Thank God one of those design mistakes didnt wind up on my face.... Not a fan of that Lord Valdemort the Visor look at all be it a Billy Smith, a Mike Palmateer or a Mike Liut.... because tell you what, if that was the only design he'd had on offer I surely wouldnt have done business with him.

 

[Big Phil]

A goalie you want on your team, no question about it. Sometimes he doesn't get enough credit for backstopping the Isles to those 19 straight series wins. Made some clutch saves along the way and stood up in those overtimes as well. I think this is when he thrived the most. He could play on my team anyday of the week.

There was a poll done a while back on here asking which goalie you think was better between Tony Esposito and Smith. I picked Smith. We can all agree Tony O was the better regular season goalie, but give me the guy who won 4 Cups in a row anyday of the week. Honestly, when did Smith ever let in a bad goal at a costly time? He is a goalie who relies a lot on his playoff portfolio, but for good reason.

We often ask who was the most important Islander on that dynasty. Most of us pick Potvin since he was the "glue" of that team and of course there is Trottier's two way play and Bossy's insane goal scoring during this time too and sometimes we lump these three together and leave Smith off by himself as if he is a distant 4th. There are some ways I think where you could look at him as being the next most important key of that dynasty after Potvin.

 

[Moose Head]

Met him at a golf tourney last summer. Was prepared to hate him, but loved his bluntness about the game and thought he was a great guy. Damn, I really wanted him to be an arse, but no, gave me some nice advice about amateur hockey with regard to my grandson, and it was appreciated. Really liked him.

 

[VanIslander]

Goalies are psycho in one way or another.
(Sawchuk maybe more than most.)
Smith, too.

I read how Bossy said players didn't DARE to ask Smith to move his stick in the dressing room. If it was in the way, they'd ask the trainers to ask him. In his next breath Bossy spoke about how respected he was, and the quieter and more intense he was on game day, the more they could TRUST him to play well.

The best goalies bring it when it matters most.

Roy has had some awful playoff games but he most often bounced back to have a fantastic night the following game.

Two goalies who I've believed lacked this "it", the competitive factor to bring it in the biggest games, were Felix Potvin and Curtis Joseph.

Some have it, some don't.