If no other moves are made, he will play the year in the AHL. He is waiver exempt, so he can’t be claimed by other teams if he is sent down - unlike POJ, who would surely be claimed if sent down.
The argument for why this would be good: Smith could go down to the AHL to find his game again and get his development back on track after a sophomore slump.
Counter argument: smith has already played 2 years in the show and is above the AHL.
Personally, I would like to see him play on the third pair with ruuta this year. This would mean trading POJ probably. I could see us maybe trading POJ in a package for a forward. Perhaps Blueger could be involved. Who knows.