Courtesy of Nashville Predators
Nashville, Tenn. (January 24, 2024) – Nashville Predators General Manager Barry Trotz announced today that the team has signed forward Cole Smith to a two-year, $2 million contract that will begin in the 2024-25 season.
Prior to his professional and collegiate career, Smith spent two seasons (2014-16) in the MJHL with the Steinbach Pistons where he scored 38 goals and 46 assists for 84 points in 92 games. He also added 13 goals and 13 assists in 27 games during two playoff runs.
Smith, 28 (10/28/95), has established a career high in goals (5) and, with 13 assists and 17 points, is on pace to top his previous best marks in both categories through 46 games this season. He also ranks second on the Predators and tied for 12th in the NHL in hits (118) and leads Nashville forwards in shorthanded ice time per game (2:19) while adding three points (1g-2a) on the penalty kill, including the first shorthanded goal of his career on Dec. 21 at Philadelphia. The 6-foot-3, 195-pound forward additionally has two multi-goal games this season and recorded a career-best five-game point streak from Dec. 12-21 (1g-4a).
Undrafted, Smith has posted 33 points (9g-24a) in 124 career NHL games since making his League debut with Nashville on the opening night of the 2020-21 season. In 2022-23, the Brainerd, Minn., native recorded 17 points (4g-13a) in 69 appearances during his first full NHL campaign after spending the majority of the previous two seasons in the AHL with Milwaukee and Chicago. Signed as a free agent in March 2020 following a four-year career at the University of North Dakota, Smith posted 51 points (24g-27a) in 137 games for the Fighting Hawks, and as a senior in 2019-20, he contributed a career-high 18 points (11g-7a) en route to winning the NCHC’s regular-season title.
