Jiri Smejkal Vying For a Forward Spot With The Senators

After playing two seasons of junior hockey in the Western League for Moose Jaw and Kamloops, Jiri Smejkal wondered if he’d ever make it back to North America.

But after seven years of stops in the KHL with Medvescak (Croatia), Finland and Sweden, the 26-year-old signed a one-year free-agent deal with the Ottawa Senators in May.

“I would say when I came back to Europe, I was kind of thinking about it. I had it still in my head that one day I’m going to try to come back and make my dream come true. I think I did a lot of work. The last few years, I think I kind of made my way through the leagues in Europe, and step by step I came back,” said Smejkal Sunday after making his preseason debut.

A defensive forward by trade, Smejkal represented his native Czechia in the past three IIHF World Championships, in addition to his 2022 appearance at the Winter Olympics, where he played four games, scoring one goal.

The six-foot-three, 220-pound left wing caught the eyes of NHL scouts after back-to-back seasons of scoring 25 and 23 goals, respectively, for the Pelicans in the Finnish Liiga and Oskarshamn in the Sweden Hockey League. In fact, Smejkal registered 88 points over 93 games during his past two campaigns in Europe, adding another skillset to his repertoire.

Drawing interest from several NHL clubs, Smejkal chose to sign with the Senators after speaking with both General Manager Pierre Dorion and Head Coach D.J. Smith.

Dorion noted in a media release on May 5th, “Jiri’s signing is a good addition for us. It improves our depth and provides us with an additional bottom-six option at forward. He’s a big body who’s strong, with previous experience playing in North America, which should help his transition to a rink with smaller dimensions. We’re pleased that he’s committed to the Senators for the next step in his career.”

Smejkal is in a training camp competition to earn bottom six forward duty along with the likes of Parker Kelly, Zack MacEwen and 15-year NHL veteran Josh Bailey who remains in Senators’ camp on a professional try-out.

With an assist in each of his two preseason games, Smejkal is doing his part to crack the club’s roster.

Receiving 18:24 of ice time Wednesday in a 4-3 loss to the Montreal Canadiens, Smejkal recorded five shot attempts. while credited with three hits. His cross-crease pass to Dominik Kubalik on a Senators’ power play kickstarted a three-goal second-period outburst by the team.

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Though it wasn’t a “real game” Sunday, Smejkal felt some nerves and was admittedly anxious about making his first NHL appearance, but it was a culmination of the hard work put in to return to North America.

“Yeah, actually, when I was sitting in the room before the game, I kind of like saw the logo in the middle. It’s not like a real NHL game, but it’s still a game in an NHL jersey like we say. And it was great feeling, and after a few shifts, the nerves left, and it was great,” Smejkal added.

“I try to try to work hard. I think we had a couple of good shifts. We were throwing in the puck. We had one really great shift and thought we could’ve scored even more than one goal. I find I enjoyed it. And I hope it’s just going to be better and better,” Smejkal told Full Press Hockey.

“I actually felt pretty good in there. I was still a little scared. How was the speed going to be? But it felt kind of kind of okay. I think, especially the Swedish League was a good test for that. And I think I was kind of ready, and I always said I hope and I feel it’s going to be better every game.”

To date, Smejkal is spot on and is well aware of how he has to perform to earn a roster spot.

“I went through some roles in Europe starting when I was 19-20. I played third-fourth line. I played first PK actually through my whole like career in Europe. So defense is not, I will say strange for me. Even on the (Czechia) National Team. I play PK, so blocking shots doing the dirty work. I’m used to it. But last especially the last three, four years. I put some points and goals. So, I don’t know. I wouldn’t mind either role But probably in the NHL, it’s a little bit easier to make it in a defensive role.”