Described as a heady, defensive forward known for his physical play in William Houston's book, The Rise and Fall of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Smith led his hometown Windsor Spitfires in scoring with 37 goals and 90 points during his rookie OHA season, 1976–77.
On December 27, 1980, Smith scored the game-winning goal on a two-on-nothing, give-and-go breakaway with fellow journeyman Alex McKendry to beat Philadelphia 2–1, as the Associated Press noted in reports published the following day.
Playing the final game of the season with Detroit, Smith scored, then suited up for the playoffs, setting up a goal by John Ogrodnick and fighting Al Secord.
After five years in the Detroit organization, The Windsor Star's Jim McKay reported on July 6, 1985, that Smith had turned down a one-year contract offer to test the free-agent market.
As reported by Rick Fraser of The Toronto Star on March 19, 1986, Smith was nominated for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL player best exemplifying perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to the game.
Coached in Toronto by Dan Maloney and John Brophy respectively, Smith's skills were best utilized with the Maple Leafs, where his key role was to "change the pace of the game".
As a Maple Leaf, Smith faced his former team, the Red Wings, on November 15, 1986, in Toronto, fighting Gerard Gallant on the opening face-off, then going on to drop the gloves three more times that game.
Smith was again a stalwart playoff performer in 1986–87, scoring a game-winning breakaway goal to clinch Toronto's 1987 opening-round series win over the St. Louis Blues on April 16 of that year.
Earlier, Smith picked an errant pass out of the air with his stick (which Parrish deemed "a pretty piece of work") to set up the drive in which Clark tied the rookie mark.
Having just signed a three-year contract, Smith eventually retired as a result of the back injury, running a charter-fishing business before returning home to Windsor in 1989 to coach the Spitfires for 2+1⁄2 years.
There, he enjoyed perhaps his finest moment, deconstructing Scotty Bowman's left-wing lock during the 1996 playoffs and neutralizing it as Colorado beat the favoured Red Wings and went on to win the Stanley Cup.
"Smith noticed the Red Wings' left wingers, who stayed back to help the defense, were small," The Sporting News reported, "so the Avalanche made sure to softly dump the puck into the right corner, where the Avs' forwards pounced.