Born in Winnipeg, Manitoba on May 30th, 1964 defenseman Vern Smith spent four years in the Western Hockey League before joining the New York Islanders organization in 1984. The Islanders drafted Smith with their second choice in the 1982 Entry Draft. During his rookie pro season with the Springfield Indians, he was summoned by the Islanders.
Smith joined the Isles for one game, the only of his career, during the 1984-85 campaign. Smith did not register a point and was returned to Springfield after the game where he spent the rest of that, and all of the next four seasons.
In 1989, after five years of stability in Springfield Smith began a nomadic stage of his career when he joined the International Hockey League's Phoenix Roadrunners for the 1989-90 season. he then moved on to New Haven the next year, though that season was finished in Albany. In 1991-92 he again played in both Phoenix and New Haven but also had stops with the Capital District Islanders and the Erie Panthers. After switching jersey's six times in his last two years of play, Smith retired from the game in 1992.
