Predators place Cole Smith on injured reserve with lower-body injury, will miss 4-6 weeks

The Nashville Predators announced that forward Cole Smith has been placed on injured reserve with a lower-body injury and will miss four-to-six weeks.

Smith has two goals and three assists for five points while racking up 20 penalty minutes in 34 games this season.

In January, Smith and the Predators agreed to a two year contract extension which has an average annual value of $1 million.

The 29-year-old tallied a career high nine goals and 14 assists for 23 points and and 63 penalty minutes in 80 games during the 2023-24 campaign. Smith had two multi-goal games and recorded a five-game point streak.

In 2022-23 he recorded four goals and 13 assists for 17 points in 69 appearances during his first full NHL campaign; according to our friends at HockeyFights.com, he racked up six fighting majors.

The Brainerd, Minnesota product was undrafted and signed with the Predators in 2020 following a four-year NCAA career at the University of North Dakota, Smith posted 24 goals and 27 assists for 51 points in 137 games for the Fighting Hawks. During the 2019-20 campaign, while Smith was a senior, he helped lead the Fighting Hawks to an NCHC regular-season title while notching 11 goals and seven assists in 34 contests.

Smith spent much of his first couple of seasons with the Predators organization playing for the Milwaukee Admirals and Chicago Wolves of the American Hockey League (AHL) and the Florida Everblades in the ECHL. Smith tallied 10 points in 23 games with Chicago as a rookie in the AHL.

Nashville currently sits seventh in the Central Division with a 10-17-1 record and 27 points through 34 games.