RELEASE: Oilers add D.J. Smith as Associate Coach

EDMONTON, AB – The Edmonton Oilers announced on Tuesday that D.J. Smith has been named Associate Coach under Mike Babcock.

Smith, 49, most recently served as interim head coach of the Los Angeles Kings, assembling an 11-6-6 record from March 1st through the end of the 2025-26 regular season. He had originally joined the club as an assistant in February 2024.  

Born in Windsor, Ontario, Smith began his NHL coaching career as an assistant under newly-appointed Oilers head coach Mike Babcock in Toronto in 2015. After four seasons with the Maple Leafs, Smith was named head coach of the Ottawa Senators in May 2019.

Over parts of five seasons and 317 games behind the bench with the Senators, he compiled a 131-154-32 record. His 131 wins rank second all-time among Senators head coaches.

Beginning his coaching days with a return to his junior hockey roots, Smith joined the staff of the Windsor Spitfires in 2005. After eight seasons and a pair of Memorial Cup wins, he took over the coaching reins of the Oshawa Generals in 2012 and guided the club to an OHL title and a dominant Memorial Cup win in 2015.

Playing junior hockey in his hometown of Windsor, Smith was the 41st- overall pick in the 1995 NHL Draft by the New York Islanders before being dealt to Toronto in March of 1996 along with Wendell Clark and Mathieu Schneider.

Smith eventually saw action in 45 NHL games as a defenceman with Toronto and later the Colorado Avalanche. Smith also dressed in 393 AHL games over parts of nine seasons for St. John’s and Hershey, tallying 23 goals and 92 assists.