Smith was born in
Ottawa,
Ontario, to Mr. and Mrs. Henry Smith, one of seven brothers who would play senior ice hockey. He moved to
Pittsburgh to become a professional with the
Pittsburgh Professionals in 1906, playing three seasons with the team before returning to Canada to join the
Brantford Indians of the
Ontario Professional Hockey League (OPHL). Smith played two seasons with Brantford but missed much of the 1909–10 season with
typhoid fever. In 1910-11, he became a member of the
Galt Professionals of the OPHL, helping Galt win the OPHL championship. Along with most of the Galt team, he bolted to the
Moncton Victorias the following season, helping Moncton win the Maritime championship. The Galt and Moncton teams Smith was a member of played consecutive Stanley Cup challenges, Galt against Ottawa in 1911 and Moncton against Quebec in 1912, both times unsuccessfully. . Smith joined the
Quebec Bulldogs for the 1912–13 season, where he won the Stanley Cup at the end of the season. After the 1913–14 season in Quebec, he was traded (twice) to
Toronto Shamrocks. This caused a dispute with the
Pacific Coast Hockey Association. At that time, the NHA and PCHA had an agreement whereby the PCHA teams could draft one player from three of the six teams of the NHA. He was traded away from Quebec, which was eligible to lose a player. He started playing for Shamrocks, though he had been drafted by Victoria of the PCHA. It was found that the initial trade was not allowed, and Quebec re-traded him to Toronto during the season, disregarding the PCHA's efforts to get him. During the 1914–15 season, he was traded back to Quebec, avoiding the PCHA draft again. Much like his older brother Harry, Tommy Smith was a mercenary when it came to club loyalty, playing for many different teams both in
Canada and in the
United States. In December 1914, when he still had not reached terms with the Toronto Ontarios/Shamrocks franchise, he claimed the location where he played was secondary to the financial aspect of the game: "There is a big margin between us, I'll play here or in Mexico if the money is strong enough. I don't care where I play. This story about my not wanting to play anywhere else but Ottawa is not correct." While skating for the Ottawa Victorias in 1906, Smith led the FAHL with 12 goals (including eight goals in a game against
Brockville on February 23, 1906). In future years, he was the leading goal-scorer in the OPHL (1908–09), the MPHA (1910–11), and the NHA (1913–14, 1914–15). ==Career statistics==