At least one former NHL defenceman isn’t a big fan of ex-Edmonton Oilers leader Ryan Smyth.
One of the hosts of the popular Missin’ Curfew podcast, journeyman NHL defenceman Shane O’Brien ripped Smyth apart in a recent clip from the show.
O’Brien, who played nine seasons in the NHL for seven teams, including Vancouver and Calgary, seemed to trace his dislike of one of the most iconic Edmonton players in history to a story relayed to him about Smyth once he’d actually left the team for the first time.
In Smyth’s first preseason with the Colorado Avalanche in 2007 after leaving the Oilers for the New York Islanders in a trade the season prior, O’Brien says Smyth allegedly complained to the referee to get one of his teammate’s goals credited to him.
“I heard a story about him in preseason. He just signed a huge ticket with the Colorado Avalanche. Exhibition game. There was a puck in front of the net and obviously Ryan Smyth is in front of the net. This kid shot it — some young kid that was just playing the exhibition game that I don’t think ever played the NHL — in an exhibition game, and Ryan Smyth went to the ref [and said] ‘It hit my pants,’ and took the kid’s goal in an exhibition game. And this guy was in the league for f*cking 10 years by then, or maybe more,” O’Brien shared.
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O’Brien said the preseason anecdote fuelled his hatred for Smyth.
“At that point, I let him know every time I played against him. I would go, ‘You think you’re Captain Canada, Smyth? You’re f*cking nuts… No one thinks you’re cool, Smytty. Not even people in Edmonton that you think love you think you’re cool. You’re a f*cking nerd,'” O’Brien continued. “Every game [I’d chirp him]. I hate him. I hate him.”
“Bang on,” NHL journeyman centre Brad Richardson commented on the post.
Smyth, who had 296 goals, 335 assists and a plus-minus of -42 in 971 games for the Oilers in his career across fifteen seasons, spent two years as a member of the Avalanche from 2007-09 (as well as two years with the Los Angeles Kings) before returning to Edmonton in 2012.
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