Tank Talk: Will Smith — Transcript

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1. 0:00Well, Smitty, I guess I'm saying
2. 0:01congratulations. 20 years old. So,
3. 0:04you're no longer a teenager. How has How
4. 0:07has like maturity gone? You're already a
5. 0:09pretty mature guy, but I imagine through
6. 0:10the course of this season, you feel even
7. 0:12older than 20 right now.
8. 0:15Um, a little bit. I feel It's kind of
9. 0:17funny. I was driving back. I feel old
10. 0:19that I'm 20 now. But, uh, I don't know.
11. 0:22If you'd asked other guys how mature I
12. 0:24am, I'd like to see their answers. But,
13. 0:26yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, we like to
14. 0:28have fun and kind of just enjoy enjoy
15. 0:30the NHL. Is the league what you
16. 0:32expected? I don't know what you
17. 0:33expected, but no, I mean, you're you're
18. 0:35pretty much done with the first full
19. 0:36season. Some of it play out how you
20. 0:39thought it might. Um, I think yes and
21. 0:42no. Obviously, as a teenager coming into
22. 0:45the NHL as your dream, it's you don't
23. 0:48know what to expect. And going to all
24. 0:50these cities and road games and
25. 0:52different arenas, it's it's been a
26. 0:53whirlwind, but um it's it's like a
27. 0:57dream, like I said, I'm sure, you know,
28. 0:59I think most people would have looked at
29. 1:01you and said, "All right, he's young.
30. 1:02It's a long season. You've never played
31. 1:03this many games in one full hockey
32. 1:05season." I don't think at this level too
33. 1:07that the second half is where maybe
34. 1:09fatigue would set in and maybe there
35. 1:10would be some decline, but for you it's
36. 1:12literally been the exact opposite.
37. 1:14What's gone into making sure that you're
38. 1:16you're getting better as this season
39. 1:18goes on or or more productive? Yeah, I
40. 1:20mean I definitely wanted to touch on
41. 1:22that. I think just at the start of year
42. 1:24obviously going to be tough and um as a
43. 1:26as a younger team and we had a kind of a
44. 1:28rough start and um personally I did too.
45. 1:30So, I think just sticking with it and um
46. 1:33like you said, I was 19 at the start of
47. 1:35this year and pretty much the whole
48. 1:36year. So, sticking with it and as the as
49. 1:38the year went on, I think I just um
50. 1:40everything just kind of started to fold
51. 1:42into place. But, I mean, even from a
52. 1:44conditioning and health standpoint, you
53. 1:45know, I mean, your body wasn't used to
54. 1:47playing probably this much hockey. How
55. 1:48how have you dealt with that part and
56. 1:50and thrived with that part? Yeah, I
57. 1:53think maturing is one thing that I also
58. 1:55had to learn in in hockey is you got to
59. 1:57take care of yourself and um after games
60. 1:59making sure you're getting getting the
61. 2:01right body work and making sure your
62. 2:02legs ready to go. I mean these back
63. 2:04tobacks are no joke so you got to be
64. 2:05ready to go. Is it true that you have a
65. 2:08fascination with sleepovers?
66. 2:12Is that a one time thing? Will that ever
67. 2:13happen again? That that's that's gotten
68. 2:15so much attention. Will that ever happen
69. 2:16again? Something like that. I don't
70. 2:19know. I think people love love that
71. 2:22stuff. But um well to folio on the pull
72. 2:26out bed is like that's the you know
73. 2:29starting college. I mean I've we were
74. 2:30always doing funny stuff like that. So
75. 2:33didn't think it would come over to the
76. 2:34NHL but it did. Yeah. You know uh
77. 2:36opening night I had the chance to be up
78. 2:39in a suite and sitting next to none
79. 2:41other than Patrick and Christina Marlo
80. 2:43and Christina leaned over and said watch
81. 2:46Patty when Will is out there on the ice.
82. 2:48I was like, "What do you mean?" He's on
83. 2:50the edge of his seat because he already
84. 2:52looks at Will like one of his sons. Is
85. 2:54that how it's gone with you living at
86. 2:56their house? And you've you've seen that
87. 2:58investment in them in you. Yeah. Yeah.
88. 3:01It's pretty special to be honest. I
89. 3:02think um I couldn't have been luckier to
90. 3:06um be able to go live with them and um
91. 3:08it's it's that it's it's been very
92. 3:09special. I mean going getting to go into
93. 3:11their home and you know already feel
94. 3:13like part of the family and um those
95. 3:16family dinners, playing board games. I
96. 3:18mean, um, it's it's always fun playing.
97. 3:20I mean, playing card games with Patrick
98. 3:22Marlo, I never thought like that was
99. 3:23going to happen. And um, Christina and
100. 3:26the boys, too. They've been they've been
101. 3:27great. So, it's been it's been pretty
102. 3:29cool. And, um, it's not even like I'm a
103. 3:32hockey player when I'm there. It's just,
104. 3:33yeah, you're part of the family. You
105. 3:35know, when we look at it from the
106. 3:36outside, we're thinking, all right,
107. 3:37there's going to be these moments and
108. 3:38and these lessons that maybe Patrick
109. 3:41could help you with, you know, coming up
110. 3:42in the NHL, but it's probably more
111. 3:44subtle than that, right? The things you
112. 3:45pick up are probably just very casual
113. 3:47and like they're not obvious, are they?
114. 3:50Yeah. No, it's it's very casual. I think
115. 3:52obviously you know what he's like and
116. 3:53Yeah. Um he's chill. Yeah. If I ever ask
117. 3:56him a question, he'll answer. Yeah. Um
118. 3:58but I'll text him after game sometimes
119. 4:00or um sometimes I mean rollerblading in
120. 4:03the backyard with one of the one of the
121. 4:04boys. We're talking about one of his
122. 4:06goals back in the day or something like
123. 4:07that. So it's it's pretty cool. His son
124. 4:09Brody, fun fact, was not named after me.
125. 4:11That that's strictly coincidence.
126. 4:13Although I I'll play it like it like it
127. 4:15was. But uh um you know it's fun for you
128. 4:18and Mac to be together. There's no
129. 4:20question about that. I see the fun you
130. 4:22have. On the flip side, isn't it super
131. 4:25important for you guys to have each
132. 4:26other as just colleagues, as friends, as
133. 4:29whatever you consider yourselves to be
134. 4:31for each other? Yeah, I think I don't
135. 4:33think a lot of people understand that
136. 4:34it's um some teams obviously you have a
137. 4:38younger guy, but maybe the next guy is
138. 4:40maybe three, four years apart. So, it is
139. 4:42going to be challenging for some some
140. 4:43other guys on different teams, but here
141. 4:45we're very lucky. I think um coming from
142. 4:48college, obviously I had seven, eight of
143. 4:51my best friends there where I'm hanging
144. 4:53out with them every single day, 24 hours
145. 4:54a day. And coming here and guys have
146. 4:57families and um you know, you got to go
147. 4:59pick your kid up from school or
148. 5:01something. It's it's a lot different.
149. 5:02So, it's it's very special and um
150. 5:04something I don't take for granted. At
151. 5:06some point, did you realize that? I
152. 5:08mean, you you probably were told, "Oh,
153. 5:09you guys will help each other. That'll
154. 5:11be great. At some point, did it sink
155. 5:12into you like, "Oh my gosh, like this
156. 5:14wouldn't be the same without you." Yeah.
157. 5:17I mean, I signed first, so I think Yeah.
158. 5:19I think I signed before the lottery and
159. 5:21Right. And then he uh obviously won
160. 5:24number one and like Dev Camp. I was
161. 5:26like, "This this kid better sign."
162. 5:29So, no, after that he he told me, "Yeah,
163. 5:31he was going to sign and see." And then
164. 5:34it's we're here.
165. 5:35As much as people will talk about you
166. 5:37and Mac, I'll tell you another college
167. 5:39kid I really like is watching Colin
168. 5:41Graph this year. What can you say about
169. 5:43Grapher and as a teammate and the skills
170. 5:45he brings? And I mean, as much as I hope
171. 5:47you both are here for a long time, I
172. 5:49think he'll be a great Shark overtime.
173. 5:51Yeah, he's been great. I think you watch
174. 5:53him in college, he had a great career
175. 5:54and then um obviously came came right
176. 5:57here to San Jose and um he's been great
177. 5:59ever since he's been up with us and I
178. 6:01think uh obviously stepped right into
179. 6:03one of the first penalty kill roles and
180. 6:06up and down the lineup he's been
181. 6:07awesome. So I think um he's going to be
182. 6:09great for us and keep doing it. So when
183. 6:12I leave after game nights um I drive
184. 6:14past the player parking lot and I see a
185. 6:16lot of players stopping and there's a
186. 6:18big crowd out there to sign autographs.
187. 6:20I'm not hanging around, but I also do
188. 6:21see on social when I scroll past a lot
189. 6:24of fans and you're there signing
190. 6:25autographs and taking pictures. You
191. 6:26realize you could just leave and go
192. 6:28home, but you don't. I'm curious why you
193. 6:31take that time to give back to the fans
194. 6:33and maybe what they mean to you and what
195. 6:35all that means to you. Yeah, I mean
196. 6:37that's definitely my parents doing. I
197. 6:39think uh they've come to a bunch of
198. 6:41games and every time my dad says make
199. 6:43sure you stop and cuz I was that kid who
200. 6:45was asking for the stick. Really? Yeah.
201. 6:47Um I was the one who was bothering the
202. 6:50players for sticks and I so I know what
203. 6:53it's like and but that's definely you
204. 6:55know always want to you know they come
205. 6:56to our games and they're spending their
206. 6:58money to come watch us play so make sure
207. 6:59I give it back. It wasn't that long ago.
208. 7:01Do you remember the players that you
209. 7:03were fascinated by growing up? Who are
210. 7:06they? I mean I got a few six. I got
211. 7:08Berseron. I got de Brinket at the Winter
212. 7:10Classic. He's not even that old. Yeah.
213. 7:13He's been around that long. Patrick Kane
214. 7:16Matthews. I mean, I was watching all
215. 7:17those guys. So, yeah. Well, now you're
216. 7:19playing with them. Um, you know, you're
217. 7:21a hockey guy, but I feel like watching
218. 7:24you uh warm up, you got some soccer
219. 7:26skills, got some football skills, you
220. 7:28got some baseball skills, maybe even.
221. 7:31What What else would you be doing if you
222. 7:32weren't playing hockey? I'd like to say
223. 7:35I'd be a quarterback, but I think I'd
224. 7:36need a few more inches. But, um,
225. 7:39baseball, I'd definitely be baseball.
226. 7:40Yeah. Did you grow up playing some
227. 7:41baseball? Yeah, that was kind of was I
228. 7:43grew up doing with my family and I'm the
229. 7:45only hockey player, so baseball was the
230. 7:47thing. All right. Uh, last couple things
231. 7:49here. What's next for you? And I think
232. 7:51it's been a great rookie season. No
233. 7:52question about it. But are there some
234. 7:54things already you say here's what I
235. 7:56want to work on this summer. Here's what
236. 7:57here's how I want to evolve. What kind
237. 7:59of things are those? Yeah, I mean, after
238. 8:02this first year, I obviously know what
239. 8:04I'm doing now is, you know, know what I
240. 8:05need to work on. And um I got that stuff
241. 8:08that you know in the summertime I'm
242. 8:10going to be um honing in on and make
243. 8:12sure when I come back to training camp
244. 8:13I'm be ready to go. And um I think the
245. 8:16whole team I think we're you know we got
246. 8:1812 13 more games but we're we're pretty
247. 8:19excited for next year too. And speaking
248. 8:21of that lastly, you know, I think from
249. 8:23the outside we see a lot of things
250. 8:25coming together here. How do you see all
251. 8:28this coming together? And like in
252. 8:30sometimes in your mind, are you able to
253. 8:32daydream what the San Jose Sharks might
254. 8:35be like in five to six years and and how
255. 8:38it really all comes together? Yeah. I
256. 8:40mean, I would be pretty excited if I was
257. 8:42the fans and um I think you can start to
258. 8:45see the pieces coming together and um
259. 8:48yeah, I would be excited and I think we
260. 8:50are too. So um we're can't wait to get
261. 8:53this going. All right, Smitty, keep up
262. 8:55the antics. All right. I mean, it's it's
263. 8:56been fun to watch you on the ice. So fun
264. 8:58to watch you off the ice, too. I
265. 9:00appreciate this.