Ottawa Senators re-sign Canadian forward Zack Smith by extending his contract for 4 years
Zack Smith, a Canadian international forward, has signed a four year’s extension deal with Ottawa Senators, who play in the Western Conference of the National Hockey League (NHL). The announcement was made on Wednesday by Senators them self.
Smith had signed a two year contract in 2011, which would have kept him at Senators until 2012-2013 season, which means he already had one year left on his contract. But Smith decided to be on the safe side and signed a new deal which would keep him here
until 2016-2017 season.
The Maple Creek, Saskatchewan born player, was very happy to get the deal done and extend his contract as he got a call from his agent that Senators are interested in him. He also hopes he fulfil their expectations by performing well, as he said in a conference
call,
"It's very exciting. I got a call from my agent two weeks ago saying Ottawa was interested in doing a long-term deal. It's pretty exciting and very flattering that they want me around for another four years and that [they think] I fit well in the overall
scheme of things. I couldn't be more happy to get the deal done. It's a great ending to the summer."
Bryan Murray, the general manager of the Ottawa Senators also was very happy to sign an upcoming player like Smith as he thinks the player will improve further as last year was his first. He said,
"We think he's an improving player. We know that last year, being his first real NHL season, that the inconsistency [he showed] at times was a matter of youth”.
The 24-year-old player was originally drafted by Ottawa Senators in the 2008 NHL Draft in the third round, selected 79th overall. He made his NHL debut in the 2008-2009 season but remained with Senators’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliates
Binghamton Senators for most of the time, until he became a regular member of Ottawa’s roster in 2011.
The 6-foot-2, 202 pounder centre has not been too impressive so far as he has played 152 games and scored 20 goals, 18 assists for 38 total points.
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