COLUMBUS, Ohio — On Sunday, NHL veteran defenseman Brendan Smith and his family shared a toast. It was champagne for Brendan and his wife, Samantha, and apple juice for his son, Nolan, 7, and daughter, Ryan, 5.

This was not a pre-Thanksgiving celebration, per se, but it was certainly a celebration of thanks.

For nearly two months, Smith was playing under a professional tryout contract for the Columbus Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate in Cleveland, his 16-year pro career in limbo. Everything changed over the weekend.

The Blue Jackets signed Smith, 36, to a one-year, two-way contract, and he’ll make his Columbus debut Wednesday when the Blue Jackets host the Toronto Maple Leafs in Nationwide Arena.

“My little guy (Nolan) took the news pretty hard when I told him that I didn’t make Columbus (out of training camp),” Smith said. “He might have taken it harder than I did, and you know — if you’re a parent — how tough that is to see your kid like that. I’m trying to console him (laughs), and I’m upset, too.

“Letting (the kids) know what happened now, that Daddy was going to play for the Blue Jackets … man, it was great. I was like, ‘Guys, we have some good news for you.’ And it was special, man. It was like Christmas morning.”

The Blue Jackets needed a feel-good story Tuesday, especially a string of injuries to some of the franchise’s most important players Monday, not to mention their 5-1 drubbing at the hands of the Washington Capitals.

There was at least some good news on the injury front Tuesday.

Zach Werenski, who left Monday’s game after two periods with an upper-body injury, is likely to play Wednesday versus the Leafs. An official determination will be made Wednesday morning, Blue Jackets coach Dean Evason said.

There’s less known about forward Kirill Marchenko, who did not dress for Monday’s game after suffering a lower-body injury earlier in the day, or forward Mathieu Olivier, who suffered an upper-body injury late in the first period Monday and did not return.

With those two certain to miss Wednesday’s game, and with Zach Aston-Reese the only extra forward on the roster, the Blue Jackets on Tuesday recalled winger Luca Pinelli from AHL Cleveland, where he has a team-leading five goals, five assists and 10 points with 18 penalty minutes in 13 games.

Pinelli, a fourth-round pick (No. 114) in 2023, will make his NHL debut.

A roster spot was created for Smith by returning defenseman Dysin Mayo to Cleveland, and Evason made it clear that, even if Werenski can play, Smith will go into the lineup. The best guess is he’ll take Jake Christiansen’s spot.

Welcome back Smitty! 🎉

We’ve signed veteran defenseman Brendan Smith to a 1-year, 2-way contract!

CBJ x @OHHeartofitAll pic.twitter.com/BJNdogcZSe

— Columbus Blue Jackets (@BlueJacketsNHL) November 24, 2025

What does Smith bring to the lineup that Evason finds so appealing?

“His bite. His leadership. His aggressiveness as a defenseman. His ability to play. A heavier physical game down low in the D-zone,” Evason said. “We brought him here for training camp and had a good look at him, and we wanted to see him continue that in Cleveland. And he did.”

Blue Jackets general manager Don Waddell said he reached out to Smith and his agent Friday to get the contract talks started. By Sunday, they had a deal.

“With what’s going on with us, and what’s going on around the league (with injuries), I figured that somebody might come along and sign him,” Waddell said. “And if we needed somebody, we’d have to pay a price. So why not see if your own guy, a guy you know well, is willing to sign a contract?

“What I like about him is he played as hard in Cleveland as he does in the NHL. He didn’t take it easy. He practiced hard, trained hard, did everything he could for the team. If you’ve got that guy in your organization, why not keep him?”

This was music to Smith’s ears.

Smith signed a PTO with the Blue Jackets for training camp. He bet on himself, too, moving the family to Columbus, enrolling his kids in school and getting his son started at The Battery Hockey Academy, etc.

He also looked at the Blue Jackets’ roster — Waddell made a few offseason moves, especially on defense — and thought he had a shot to finish his NHL career with, as he said, a team “right on the brink” of doing something special.

That’s why the news, late in training camp, that he’d been released from his PTO landed so hard.

Smith was already committed to coaching his son’s team, and he kept the commitment. But that meant long days driving up and down I-71 so he could practice with the Cleveland Monsters in the morning, coach his son’s team and be a father.

“Spending four hours in the car takes away a lot of your day,” Smith said. “I’d wake up at 5:45 a.m. in Dublin, be out the door at 6:15 so I could be in Cleveland to work out around 8:15 or 8:20. Then we’d practice in Cleveland, and I’d be out the door headed south.

“Two hours back to Columbus, get there just in time to get the kids and go coach a practice, and then we’d head home, and I’d make dinner. I wouldn’t even say I’d make it (awake) to 9:15 p.m. some nights, because I had to be up at 5:45 the next morning.”

It wasn’t easy, and when Smith spoke to The Athletic earlier this month in Cleveland, he acknowledged he wasn’t sure how much longer he could do it. But there was something eating at him: He believed he could still play in the NHL.

Smith is three years older than any other player in the Blue Jackets dressing room. With that experience comes wisdom, he said, and it’s allowed him to see a positive side to the struggle over the last three months.

It is one thing to tell your kids to be strong, to persevere, to keep battling through the tough times. But it’s something else to show them.

“You’re always trying to teach your kids to never quit,” Smith said. “Things aren’t always going to go your way. You’re going to fall off the horse. Get back on. You’re gonna make mistakes. Try again. Usually it works out, but if it doesn’t, you did your very best. That’s life.

“I’m really glad I was able to see it that way, and recognize the lesson they were maybe getting out of this. I’m proud of that, I really am.”

Samantha Smith will have Nolan and Ryan at Nationwide Arena on Wednesday. It will be an emotional night, even though Smith’s played 726 games, including 32 last season for the Dallas Stars.

“I remember every first game I’ve played with every team, and they’re all so exciting,” Smith said. “This one might be, arguably, up there with my first (NHL) game.

“Just with how this season has gone, how challenging it’s been … when you put all the variables in, this one will be pretty exciting for me. It’s gonna be a pinch me moment.”