Blackhawks sign Cole Smith, Ian Cole to contracts
A couple of experienced players are moving to the Windy City.
As free agency opened on Wednesday, the Chicago Blackhawks signed forward Cole Smith to a three-year contract. The deal will carry an AAV of $3 million through the 2028-29 season. The team also signed defenseman Ian Cole to a one-year contract, with a cap hit of $4 million for the 2026-27 campaign.
Smith came to the end of his two-year contract extension, which he signed with the Nashville Predators in January 2024. That deal had an AAV of $1 million.
The 30-year-old heads to Chicago after an eventful spring with the Vegas Golden Knights. After the team acquired him ahead of the trade deadline, in exchange for Christoffer Sedoff and a 2028 draft, Smith potted two goals in 21 regular-season games. He found a little more offensive zip in his game during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, posting three goals and six points in 22 games, as the Golden Knights made it to the Stanley Cup Final for the third time in franchise history. Vegas ended up losing to the Carolina Hurricanes in six games.
In total, Smith scored eight goals and four assists for 12 points, posting a plus/minus of -7 while averaging a little over 12 minutes per game during 63 regular-season games.
Cole has been around the block during his 16 years in the NHL. The Blackhawks are the 10th team he will play for, and sixth since he was traded by the Colorado Avalanche in 2021. He spent the past two seasons with the Utah Mammoth, helping the “new” franchise find its footing in the league. This past year, the Ann Arbor, Mich. native scored three goals and 20 assists for 23 points, marking just the third time in his career that he reached the 20-point mark, and the first since the 2019-20 campaign. The Mammoth qualified for the postseason for the first time, ultimately losing to Smith and the Golden Knights in the first round.
In 990 regular-season games in the NHL, Cole has scored 38 goals and 195 assists for 233 points, with another 33 points in 135 postseason contests. Cole won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017.