He heard about it like the Little League kid heard about five tools, like the AYSO player heard about footwork and vision and endurance and balance and agility, like the middle schooler in basketball heard about screening and helping as much as shooting and rebounding.
When it comes to the NHL and its best two-way players, the guys each season whose names are invariably debated as most deserving of the Selke Trophy, ones like Patrice Bergeron and Sean Couturier and Anze Kopitar and Jonathan Toews, you won’t yet hear that of Reilly Smith in a first and perhaps second breath.