The 6-foot-4 Smejkal played 20 games with the Ottawa Senators this season.
The Ottawa Senators continue to work through their organizational checklist of free agents.
While the Senators were signing RFA forwards Angus Crookshank and Cole Reinhardt to new one-year, two-way deals this week, they also saw Czech forward Jiri Smejkal head back home to sign a new deal in Czechia. According to the HC Dynamo Pardubice website, Smejkal has agreed to a five-year deal with the Czech club.
That doesn't mean that Smejkal is officially through with the NHL. According to the website, Smejkal's new deal does contain an out clause if an opportunity comes along in North America during the first year of his Czechia deal. As of July 1st, Smejkal is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent in the NHL.
Former GM Pierre Dorion signed Smejkal last summer after a standout season in the top Swedish league, where he had 43 points in 49 games. He couldn't produce at nearly that level in the NHL, where he had two points in 20 NHL games with the Senators. He had 22 points in 47 games for Belleville.
The personable Smejkal did get his first NHL goal in Ottawa's final game of the season.
In Ottawa, the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Smejkal was used almost exclusively on the fourth line and averaged just over nine minutes of ice time per night
Based on merit, Smejkal probably earned an NHL spot right out of the gate with an excellent training camp last fall. Was he their best forward? No. Was he easily inside their top 12? Absolutely.
But the team was in such cap trouble they couldn't afford to ice a full roster on opening night, let alone keep the newcomer Smejkal around in Ottawa. Smejkal seemed to take that hard during the early days of his demotion to Belleville. He certainly didn't leave Sweden at age 27 for the dream of being in the AHL.
Smejkal played for the Czech national team at the world championships in 2021, 2022, and 2023. He was suited up for Czechia at the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.