Derek Smith (ice hockey, born 1954)

This biography of a living person needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately from the article and its talk page, especially if potentially libelous. Find sources: "Derek Smith" ice hockey, born 1954 – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (August 2023) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Derek Smith
Smith with the Buffalo Sabres Alumni Hockey Team in 2011
Born	(1954-07-31) July 31, 1954 (age 70) Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Height	5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight	180 lb (82 kg; 12 st 12 lb)
Position	Centre/Left wing
Shot	Left
Played for	Buffalo Sabres Detroit Red Wings
NHL draft	168th overall, 1974 Buffalo Sabres
WHA draft	89th overall, 1974 Houston Aeros
Playing career	1974–1984

Derek Robert Smith (born July 31, 1954) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player who played in the National Hockey League with the Buffalo Sabres and Detroit Red Wings between 1975 and 1983. He was selected by the Sabres in the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft.

Smith was born in Quebec City, Quebec, but grew up in Ottawa, Ontario.

Smith played his junior hockey for the Ottawa 67's and scored an impressive 52 goals in the 1972–73 campaign. He backed up the performance with a 47-goal season the next year and this was enough to garner the attention of the Buffalo Sabres who drafted him in the 10th round of the 1974 NHL Amateur Draft.

He spent three seasons with the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League including a playoff effort in 1975 where he scored seven goals in eleven games. Smith also scored nearly a point a game for the Bears in 1976–77. This is also the year when he made his regular season debut in the NHL, playing in 5 games for the Sabres, after appearing in one playoff game for the Sabres the year before.

In 1977, he became an NHL regular appearing in 36 regular season games and an additional eight playoff games. Smith broke out in the 1979–80 season when he recorded career high 24 goals to go with 39 assists. He also scored 12 points in 13 games. He was a 20-goal scorer the next season. Smith also set a career high with 43 assists in 69 games.

On December 2, 1981, Smith was part of a blockbuster trade^[1] that sent him to the Detroit Red Wings, along with Danny Gare and Jim Schoenfeld, in exchange for Dale McCourt, Mike Foligno and Brent Peterson. Smith scored thirteen goals playing for Detroit. He retired from professional hockey in 1984 after scoring 78 goals and 194 points in the NHL.

Smith still resides in the Western New York area and is an active member of the Buffalo Sabres Alumni Association.

• Biographical information and career statistics from NHL.com, or Eliteprospects.com, or Hockey-Reference.com, or The Internet Hockey Database
• Sports Illustrated article
• Buffalo Sabres alumni page