Markus Niemelainen vs. Vincent Desharnais

I happen to come across this article on the internet one day showing Ryan Smyth’s mansion on the upscale outskirts of Sherwood Park is up for sale at a hefty pricetag.

The article mentioned that Smyth had moved to……Nashville? I thought that was strange at first since Smyth was a proud adopted Edmontonian through and through and had this house custom built for him and his family – not to mention he had no playing ties to Nashville in the slightest.

Then I found a different link and it seems to come together. Smyth retired in 2014, which by now is just over eight years ago.  If you look at the video footage from his last game, his oldest daughter looks like she’s between 10-12 years old. Doing the math on that would mean she would be 18-20 now. That means he’s probably had almost a decade spending time with his family, his oldest children are either starting their own lives or close to it, and even his youngest kids are starting to become more independent.

This means the time is right for him to get back into hockey. He’s largely stayed out of hockey aside from playing 11 games for a senior rec team in Stony Plain between two seasons after he retired.

Then I came across this link. Take a look at who’s listed as Director of Player Development for this team that’s part of USA hockey and head coach of the under 13 boys’ teams? That’s right, Ryan Smyth.

That would explain why the Smyth family also bought a $3 million mansion in a suburb just outside of Nashville. Martin Erat – another retired NHLer – is the Director of Hockey Operations and head coach of the younger boys’ teams. Meanwhile a former NWHL player is head coach and director of all the girls’ teams and a Slovakian ex-NHL player is the head strength and conditioning coach, along with a power skating coach.

Former Oilers owner and one of the members of the Edmonton Investors Group Bruce Saville also has an Edmonton mansion for sale at over $8 million.