Another person familiar with Smith's M.O. - Calgary's VP of Hockey Operations Don Maloney - felt this change would be just the thing after six seasons in the desert.
"In Arizona, I always felt he was thinking: 'Okay, I've got to stop the puck, make the pass, score the goal and fight the tough guy,'' mused the long-time Coyotes' GM.
"In the same period."
That willingness to take it on, to shoulder responsibility, was evident as early as opening night, during a 42-save, 3-0 loss up north at Rexall Place, and cemented in the local imagination only five days later in the wake a 45-stop shutout at the Flames' personal House of Horrors in Anaheim, Smith extinguishing a 29-game regular-season Calgary run of anguish.
"I was downplaying it, maybe a little bit," he confessed of the Honda hoodoo. "But when you play a team that long and you're not on the winning part of it, I think it gets old pretty fast.
"I've been on teams when it's happened to me. I wanted to help this team get over that hump."
He helped them over plenty.
As vital as his attitude and ability was a genuine excitement in being here.
"After winters in Dallas, Tampa and Arizona,'' Smith promised, "I'm ready for a little snow. A little cold.
"Can't wait, in fact."