It was there in the minors that Smith started wearing his distinctive cap to stop the glare of the overhead lights from blinding him.
He shut-out the Montreal Maroons in the NHL's longest game where he apparently lost 12 pounds (5.4 kg) of body weight during the 176-minute, 30-second affair[1] on the way to a Stanley Cup championship in 1935–36.
Smith helped Detroit repeat as Stanley Cup Champions in 1936–37 and won the Vezina Trophy that same year.
He was then traded to Boston along with $15,000 U.S. cash on November 16, 1938, for Tiny Thompson, where there was no way he would beat out Frank Brimsek, and he was sent to the minors.
He returned to play briefly with the Red Wings when World War II left a vacuum of players in the NHL.