{"id":513261,"date":"2026-03-04T07:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/513261\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T07:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T07:12:08","slug":"golden-knights-acquire-cole-smith-pro-hockey-rumors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/513261\/","title":{"rendered":"Golden Knights Acquire Cole Smith \u2013 Pro Hockey Rumors"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Nashville Predators have made another move tonight, sending forward Cole Smith<\/a> to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for a 2028 third round pick and defense prospect Christoffer Sedoff<\/a>. The trade has been confirmed by both Nashville<\/a>, as well as Vegas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A fourth line winger with strong defensive attributes, Vegas inherits Smith\u2019s $1MM cap hit until the end of the season, where he\u2019ll become an unrestricted free agent. The Golden Knights currently rank 11th in the league in penalty killing, not necessarily an issue, but they add a relentless presence who fans may find similar to Keegan Kolesar<\/a>. Smith will also reunite with former Preds teammate Colton Sissons<\/a>, the two forming an effective fourth line over the past few seasons.<\/p>\n

Always right up against the salary cap, Vegas has had to lean on unheralded forwards such as Cole Reinhardt<\/a> and Braeden Bowman<\/a> to round out their lineup. Adding Smith offers them a high character winger with experience, hungry to add to his just five career playoff games to this point.<\/p>\n

It was a strange night for the newest Golden Knight, as he played just three seconds against Columbus, clearly with a trade in the works. At one point Smith left the bench, the team giving him stick taps out of respect, only to return and sit for the rest of the game. At one point Insider Frank Seravalli mentioned Tampa Bay as a suitor<\/a>, but instead it was Vegas who closed the deal.<\/p>\n

The 30-year-old Smith\u2019s efforts rarely show up on the score sheet, with 10 points in 41 games this season, and a career high of 23 points set two years ago. He also is not the most swift skater at 6\u20193\u2033, but the hallmark of the Minnesota native\u2019s game is work ethic. As far as these types of players go, sometimes their possession metrics aren\u2019t so pretty, but Smith offers a respectable 48.8% corsi for at five on five. Such is slightly below average, but he is never expected to drive play at even strength. Capable of dropping the gloves when needed, Smith has reached the 60 penalty minute mark over the past few seasons but is not a vicious, undisciplined player.<\/p>\n

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Undrafted out of the University of North Dakota, Smith has had an unlikely path to the NHL, and still is a player not widely known across the league. Never recording more than 18 points in a season in college, he caught on with Nashville, even making a short stop in the ECHL in 2020-21. Smith broke out with the AHL\u2019s Milwaukee Admirals in 2021-22, putting up 42 points, production far above anything seen at North Dakota.<\/p>\n

From there, the winger soon became a full time player for the Predators, eventually appearing in 271 games in gold, where he notched 62 points. Beloved by Predators management and teammates alike, Smith, like his former linemate Michael McCarron<\/a> who was dealt earlier tonight, was likely considered to be kept around for the long haul. Instead, GM Barry Trotz brings in a nice return for a fourth line player who came to the organization as a free agent.<\/p>\n

As part of the deal, Nashville acquires 24-year-old Sedoff, taking back a contract. The 6\u20192\u2033 lefty was undrafted out of the WHL, catching on with Vegas where he\u2019s played the past three seasons with AHL Henderson. This season he has four assists in 38 games, and as a pending restricted free agent, he has limited NHL upside. Sedoff will likely finish the spring with the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL.<\/p>\n

Now missing two vital pieces from their bottom six, eyes turn to Nashville\u2019s more attractive pieces; headlined by Ryan O\u2019Reilly<\/a>, but more likely, Michael Bunting<\/a> and Erik Haula<\/a>. The team is still in the Wild Card mix but after a tough day for the team\u2019s morale, the team may wave the white flag and look to the future especially considering the strong returns they\u2019ve netted in deals so far. Trotz is loading up on futures, now up to six third round picks between 2027 and 2028. Prospect Reid Schaefer<\/a>, acquired from Edmonton in the Mattias Ekholm<\/a> deal, will likely slot in for Smith for the rest of the campaign.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Smith\u2019s new team takes on Detroit in the Motor City tomorrow, but most likely, he will debut on the Vegas strip Friday night against the Wild, lining up against his former counterpart in McCarron.<\/p>\n

Image Credit: Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

TSN\u2019s Darren Dreger was the first to break the trade<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Nashville Predators have made another move tonight, sending forward Cole Smith to the Vegas Golden Knights in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":513262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[49,48,203555,760,4247,82,4584,767],"class_list":{"0":"post-513261","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-cole-smith","11":"tag-nashville-predators","12":"tag-newsstand","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-transactions","15":"tag-vegas-golden-knights"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=513261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/513261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/513262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=513261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=513261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=513261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}