As an impending unrestricted free agent, Smith’s future with the club has been the subject of conversation going back as far as last season when he improbably scored a career-high 25 goals.
In the last year of four-year contract that he signed in September of 2012 that pays him $2.35-million (with an average annual contract value of $1.8875-million), the question of what to do with Smith will only intensify as the Senators approach the trade deadline.
The Senators currently sit in third place in the Atlantic Division with 46 points and are in a midst of the Eastern Conference playoff race, so it’s hard to imagine the Senators’ philosophy changing since have ever really made a habit of trading impending free agents or selling high on players at the deadline.