Smith Happy To Be Staying With W-B/Scranton

It's not very often that a player gets traded but remains with the same team, but that's exactly what is going to happen with defenseman Ty Smith after the Carolina Hurricanes acquired him from the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday night as part of the Jake Guentzel trade.

Without their own American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Hurricanes opted to keep Smith with the Penguins' AHL club in Wilkes-Barre, where he's the team's leading scorer with nine goals, 24 assists in 52 games entering Saturday's rematch against the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.

"Yeah, I was just about to go to bed. Didn't really expect it," Smith explained of finding out about the trade Thursday night. "[Penguins GM] Kyle Dubas called me, kind of gave me the heads up - explained the situation to me. And then Hurricanes GM [Don Waddell] reached out after and then kind of spoke to him for a little bit."

Thankfully for Smith, he knew right away he was staying put and staying with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton while he's playing in the AHL. He was able to avoid the initial rush after being traded, not having to worry about packing his things and getting a new living situation sorted out on-the-fly.

"I'm excited. Like I said, it's a little bit of a unique situation staying here, but we have a great group of guys," Smith said. "Being able to get loaned to the team that I was already with, I think that was a good thing. And I really like this group."

The feeling is mutual, as the Penguins coaching staff is certainly glad Smith is sticking around. Otherwise, it would have marked the third time this season that they lost their leading scorer via trade.

"It's a different one. That's a new one for us, for sure," Wilkes-Barre/Scranton head coach JD Forrest told InsideAHLHockey.com after Friday night's game in Allentown. "But yeah, I mean, we talked about this morning, a different circumstance just based on how they don't have an affiliate. I think we feel like like it's a bit of a luxury to have a player of his caliber in here every night."

While with the AHL Penguins this season, Smith has been a top pairing, puck-moving defenseman - helping the team in a big way on the breakout, as a key cog on the team's power play and his ability to keep pucks alive in the offensive zone and allow his team to stay on the attack.

"Yeah, we definitely weren't too upset that he was he was going to stay," Forrest said tongue-in-cheek, before saying, "I hope he gets an opportunity [in Carolina]. Whenever you change organizations that's kind of what you're hoping for, so we'll see how it goes. In the meantime, he's with us, he's a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguin and nothing really changes from that standpoint."

All in all the trade left for some laughs amongst teammates on Friday leading up to Friday night's game against their rival Lehigh Valley.

Jack St. Ivany asked who was speaking post-game. After Ty Smith's name was mentioned, Ivany responded jokingly, "First point as a Carolina Hurricane!" referring to Smith's first period assist on Austin Rueschhoff's power play tally.

"They were all just laughing about it, and giving it to me a little bit after the game here," Smith said with a laugh. "So it's all fun with the guys, so it's good."

As for how his initial conversation with Canes GM Don Waddell went? It sounded like a quick chat amid a busy time.

"I mean, it's just a brief conversation. I think they had a lot going on - obviously a huge move bringing in [Jake Guentzel]," Smith said, also mentioning the Evgeny Kuznestov addition. "It was positive, so it was good to kind of touch base and I'm glad they called me and kind of had a bit of a chat."

While Smith stays with the AHL Penguins, Pittsburgh doesn't retain any NHL rights.

Carolina can call up Smith at their leisure, but for now he will continue to push toward the AHL postseason playing top pairing minutes and getting ample special teams ice time.