Douglas Dean Smail (born 2 September 1957) is a Canadian former

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who work (human activity), works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the partic ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

left winger who played in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; , ''LNH'') is a professional ice hockey league in North America composed of 32 teams25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. The NHL is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Cana ...

(NHL) for 13 seasons from

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

through

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

Playing career

Smail starred at the

University of North Dakota The University of North Dakota (UND) is a Public university, public research university in Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States. It was established by the Dakota Territory, Dakota Territorial Assembly in 1883, six years before the establishm ...

for three seasons from 1977 to 1980, scoring 87 points in 40 games in his final season in the

WCHA The Western Collegiate Hockey Association (WCHA) is a college ice hockey conference which operates in the Midwestern United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I as a women's-only conference. From 1951 to 1999, it operated as a men ...

. His performance was enough to warrant notice from the

Winnipeg Jets The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The Jets compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division (NHL), Central Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference. The te ...

, and the next season he was a full-time NHL player. Smail played eleven seasons with Winnipeg, being a top two-way player for them, as he had twelve consecutive seasons in which he scored at least one shorthanded goal, with a total of 28 shorthanded goals in his career. Perhaps Smail's greatest claim to fame was when he tied the NHL record for fastest goal after the opening faceoff by scoring a goal five seconds after the game started on 20 December 1981. Smail finished his career with the

Minnesota North Stars The Minnesota North Stars were a professional ice hockey team in the National Hockey League (NHL) for 26 seasons, from 1967 to 1993. The North Stars played their home games at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota, and the team's colors for ...

Quebec Nordiques The Quebec Nordiques (, pronounced in Quebec French, in Canadian English; translated "Northmen" or "Northerners") were a professional ice hockey team based in Quebec City. The Nordiques played in the World Hockey Association (1972–1979) an ...

and

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. The Senators compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Di ...

, but never achieved the success he had in Winnipeg. After Smail's NHL career was over, he played three seasons in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

for the

Fife Flyers The Fife Flyers are a Ice hockey in Scotland, Scottish professional ice hockey team in Kirkcaldy, Fife. Established in 1938, the Flyers are the oldest still-extant club in the country. The Flyers play their home games at Fife Ice Arena, which ...

and

Cardiff Devils The Cardiff Devils () are a Welsh professional ice hockey team who play in the UK-based Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL). The team plays at Ice Arena Wales in Cardiff Bay, currently known as ''Vindico Arena'' for sponsorship reasons. Cardiff' ...

before retiring. He was the first player ever to sign for a British team directly from an NHL team when he signed with Fife from the Senators.

Post-playing career

Smail was one of five

plaintiff A plaintiff ( Π in legal shorthand) is the party who initiates a lawsuit (also known as an ''action'') before a court. By doing so, the plaintiff seeks a legal remedy. If this search is successful, the court will issue judgment in favor of the ...

s along with Dave Forbes,

Rick Middleton Richard David "Nifty" Middleton (born December 4, 1953) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player for the New York Rangers and Boston Bruins of the National Hockey League. Playing career As a youth, Middleton played in the 1966 Quebec ...

Brad Park Douglas Bradford Park (born July 6, 1948) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player. A defenceman, Park played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Rangers, Boston Bruins and Detroit Red Wings. Considered to be one of th ...

and Ulf Nilsson in ''Forbes v. Eagleson'', a

class action A class action is a form of lawsuit. Class Action may also refer to: * ''Class Action'' (film), 1991, starring Gene Hackman and Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio * Class Action (band), a garage house band * "Class Action" (''Teenage Robot''), a 2002 e ...

lawsuit A lawsuit is a proceeding by one or more parties (the plaintiff or claimant) against one or more parties (the defendant) in a civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today ...

filed in 1995 on behalf of about 1,000 NHL players who were employed by NHL teams between 1972 and 1991 against

Alan Eagleson Robert Alan Eagleson (born April 24, 1933) is a disbarred Canadian lawyer, hockey agent and promoter. Clients that he represented included superstars Bobby Orr and Darryl Sittler. He was the first executive director of the NHL Players Assoc ...

, the league and its member clubs. The players alleged that the NHL and its teams violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act by colluding with Eagleson to enable him to

embezzle Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...

from the

National Hockey League Players' Association The National Hockey League Players' Association (NHLPA, ) is the trade union, labour union for the group of professional List of NHL players, hockey players who are under Standard Player Contracts to the 32 member clubs in the National Hockey ...

(NHLPA) and that the four-year

statute of limitations A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In ...

in civil

racketeering Racketeering is a type of organized crime in which the perpetrators set up a coercion, coercive, fraud, fraudulent, extortionary, or otherwise illegal coordinated scheme or operation (a "racket") to repeatedly or consistently collect a profit. ...

cases began when Eagleson was

indicted An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felonies, the most serious criminal offense is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use that concept often use that of an indi ...

in 1994. The lawsuit was dismissed on August 27, 1998 in

United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania (in case citations, E.D. Pa.) is one of the original 13 federal judiciary districts created by the Judiciary Act of 1789. It originally sat in Independence Hall in Philad ...

by Thomas Newman O'Neill Jr. who ruled that the statute of limitations expired because it had begun in 1991 when the players were made aware of the allegations against Eagleson. O'Neill's decision was upheld in the

United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a United States federal court, federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the United States district court, district courts for the following United Sta ...

on October 17, 2000."NHL Notes: Judge Sides With NHL," ''The Washington Post'', Wednesday, October 18, 2000.
Retrieved April 7, 2024. He now resides in Colorado with his wife and four children. Smail was the assistant coach of the U-16 Team Rocky Mountain AAA Hockey program, where he coached alongside former NHL player

Rick Berry Richard Ernest Berry (born November 4, 1978) is a Canadian former ice hockey defenceman who played in the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche, Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals. Berry now lives in Colorado and is a financial consultant ...

, and is now the head coach of the Rocky Mountain Roughriders U-18 AAA squad.

Awards and honors

*Named to the NCAA Championship Tournament MVP (1980) *Played in

NHL All-Star Game The National Hockey League All-Star Game () is an exhibition ice hockey tournament that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many of the League's star players playing against each other. The ga ...

(1990) * British Ice Hockey Writers Association

Player of the Year Several sports leagues honour their best player with an award called Player of the Year. In the United States, this type of award is usually called a Most Valuable Player award. Association football In association football, this award is held on b ...

(1994)

Records

*Winnipeg Jets/Phoenix Coyotes franchise record for career shorthanded goals (25) *Fastest goal to start an NHL hockey game (5 seconds) - shared with

Merlyn Phillips Merlyn Joseph "Bill" Phillips (25 May 1896 – 10 January 1978) was a Canadian professional ice hockey player. He played in the National Hockey League with the Montreal Maroons and New York Americans between 1926 and 1933. With Montreal he won the ...

Bryan Trottier Bryan John Trottier (born July 17, 1956) is a Canadian and American former professional ice hockey centre who played 18 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins. He won four Stanley Cups with ...

and

Alexander Mogilny Alexander Gennadevich Mogilny (; born 18 February 1969) is a Russian former professional ice hockey player and the current president of Amur Khabarovsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). He was the first National Hockey League (NHL) drafte ...

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Smail, Doug 1957 births Living people Canadian ice hockey left wingers Cardiff Devils players Fife Flyers players Ice hockey people from Moose Jaw Minnesota North Stars players National Hockey League All-Stars Ottawa Senators players Quebec Nordiques players 20th-century Canadian sportsmen Undrafted National Hockey League players University of North Dakota alumni North Dakota Fighting Hawks men's ice hockey players Winnipeg Jets (1979–1996) players Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in the United States Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Scotland Canadian expatriate ice hockey players in Wales NCAA men's ice hockey national champions