Brendan Smith's 600 Game Journey | FEATURE

Brendan Smith says his mother Deirdre has FOMO, so there was no way she was going to miss Thursday night's game against Philadelphia at Prudential Center.
Despite his insistence that she didn't need to be there, he knew deep down his words weren't going to change her mind. She wasn't going to miss watching her son play his 600th NHL game.
"My mother, she won't miss anything, she's got FOMO," Smith said, the morning of his 600th career game. "So, she won't miss it. She won't miss any milestone whether it's (younger brother) Riley or myself or my older brother, Rory. For her to not even take what I had to say, like (telling her to) stay home, and make sure that she got here, it speaks volumes."
At first, he didn't feel like there was anything for his mom to miss. There was, in his mind, nothing to make a big deal of. What were 600 games, when he could have played more? It didn't feel like something he wanted to celebrate, which in itself felt unusual for the 33-year-old. Smith is always an optimist, but he's also a realist, and suddenly he was facing an unfamiliar emotion.
"I'm kind of, for this topic, I'm sometimes more upset than the positive way of looking at 600," he said. "But that's been due to injuries and lockouts and whatnot. But I think that through my mom and my wife's outlook is, everybody looks at it like that somebody who's even on 1,000 games could say I wish I had 1,400, so I like how they kind of helped me put that in perspective because my mom came into town for this game, which is awesome that she would do that."
Don't misconstrue things, he knows how fortunate he is to have played all these years in the National Hockey League, living out a dream, to compete against the very best, but there was something in him that initially struggled to see 600 games as something to celebrate.
In his mind, there were so many what-ifs.

What if there were no injuries, no lockouts, what if COVID didn't shorten and end seasons, what if there were different circumstances on his journey.Maybe he'd be well beyond 600, 12 years into a career.
But 600 games are where he is at.
And those around Brendan want him to know that. And that is why Deirdre was there.
"I told her not to make a big deal about it, I should be at 800 (games)," Smith said of his mother's insistence to make the trip to New Jersey. "Especially with my little brother (Riely) at 700 (games), he's more than me."
It took some time, with the help of his mother and his wife Sam to see the 600 games for what it is: An incredible accomplishment.
"I think it was just such a negative, pessimistic way of looking at things," he muttered. "I've changed my tune on it."
"My mom and my wife's outlook, that helped me put it in perspective," he continued. From his mother Deirdre, he began to see the bigger picture.
"I think what she's done, she sees the bigger picture and a lot of things, and I think that's a quality that I've learned from her and I help these younger guys with that quality. Because there is always a bigger picture, and you have to see that to kind of move on and learn and grow. And she's done that, so there's a lot of things that she's instilled in me, in my brothers. I don't get to this point, where we are without her."
Brendan considers the big picture.
"I've changed my tune on that and I think for a while, there's areas of my journey in the NHL that hasn't always been that easy, as I played forward at times and whatever,so I think that was what has created this, I guess negative outlook on the 600 games," he shared. "I've changed, in the fact that that's 600 games, there's a lot of players that don't make it, don't make it at all and would love to be in the position that I've been in, and I have to look at it that way."
This sounds more like Brendan.
"Now that I think about it, I've been able to play 600 games with elite players," he observed. "maybe some of the most fantastic players of our time. I think Pavel Datsyuk is probably the best player I've ever seen play, played against, played with, in practice, to learn from him. It was an honor. And on the other side, to compete against and stop players like Ovi (Alex Ovechkin) and Sidney Crosby, (Connor) McDavid, all these guys that are so fantastic. And to look at it that way, I'm completely blessed.
"I have a really big smile now," he continued, "and I'm getting a little emotional because it is pretty exciting to have played 600 games at such a high level."

When he takes time to think about it, there's that moment of realization that there was a time 600 games didn't feel like an option. If it wasn't for his wife Sam, we may never be having this introspective conversation. There would be no consideration of what 600 games means or doesn't, because it would have been over before he got there.
"Before Carolina, there was a moment where I thought I would be back in New York, and I really felt that I should have been resigned by (G.M. Chris) Drury and the staff there. And when I found out that that was not going to be in the cards, which was way late, I thought maybe I was done. I was thinking about retiring at that moment.
"I'm very happy, and a testament to my wife too, because I was ready to kind of hang them up. She wasn't. She knew that I was still well, good enough to keep playing. And we talked about it, and we went to Free Agency, and I didn't really get a great offer. But I found out that Carolina was interested in me, and we kind of went from there and kind of bet on myself."
On Thursday night he got to enjoy having his mom, his wife, and his two children Nolan and Ryenn standing in the Zamboni tunnel, watching him warm up and then from the stands watching him play. When talking about his children being there, Smith takes a deep breath and wipes a few tears from his eyes. At four and two, without getting to 600 games, they may never have been a part of a milestone night. And that is what it is all about.
"Now that my kids are four and two, they've been to the games, they understand who Dada is and where I'm going when I go to the rink, and when I play. And they love being a part of it and watching me on TV and they're tuned in, they know when I'm on the ice, they know my number 2, my daughter knows 2."

"I'm thrilled, I'm quite thrilled. Sure, I could be at more but sure it could be at less. You know, it's been a great journey for me, and that's one of the best things, it's not about the 600, it's been the journey to get to 600 and I think that's the biggest thing for me is taking away is the journey. When people talk about their goal in life, one of the greatest things is how you got to that goal."