Biography

BIOGRAPHY

Cole Smith was born October 28, 1995 in Brainerd, Minnesota. He is a left wing in the National Hockey League.

Smith played junior hockey in Canada with the Steinbach Pistons of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League before joining the North Dakota Fighting Hawks in 2016. In his senior year of college hockey (2019–2020), Smith was a key component of a Fighting Hawks team that posted the top regular season record in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference (NCHC) but was unable to compete for the conference and national championships because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Smith was named as a finalist for the NCHC's top defensive forward award. Upon leaving the University of North Dakota, Smith signed a one-year contract with the Nashville Predators on March 19, 2020, but did not see any action during the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. He played five games with the Florida Everblades of the ECHL in December 2020 before joining the Predators' training camp for the pandemic-shortened 2020–21 season. He was named to the Predators' "taxi squad" but then recalled to the active roster for the start of the season, making his NHL debut on January 14, 2021, against the Columbus Blue Jackets.

On January 21, 2023, Smith scored his first career goal in a game against the Los Angeles Kings.