Cole Smith was supposed to have a relatively light schedule at Nashville Predators Training Camp on Saturday.
After practicing and scrimmaging with the “A” group the previous day, Smith should have been part of the last practice session of the day with the non-scrimmaging group on Saturday. But due to some injuries on the roster, some last-minute personnel adjustments by the coaching staff saw Smith being moved to the “C” group that would scrimmage early Saturday morning.
“I checked the schedule last night and saw that they had made a trade,” Smith smirked.
Aside from the earlier wake-up call, Smith didn’t mind suiting up for his second scrimmage in as many days with a new group. As he sees it, it’s part of the job description as an NHL player.
“It's been a hard, fast camp,” Smith said. “It's tough on everybody, but I think that's good for us. We’re exhausted here, but that's part of the gig. At training camp, we’re supposed to get worked hard; so I'm tired, but you just have to take care of yourself here and get ready for the next day.”
Smith comes to this year’s camp with a full season of NHL experience under his belt and the added comfort of knowing he is under a one-year, $775,000 contract for the 2023-24 season.
“I definitely have a lot more confidence this year,” Smith said. “Just building on the experience of playing a full year up here and being able to come and camp knowing the guys a little more personally and just kind of knowing what I can do out there kind of frees me up mentally.”
Smith didn’t have a point in nine NHL games with Nashville from 2020-22, spending the majority of those two seasons with the AHL’s Milwaukee Admirals. The 2022-23 season, however, saw Smith become a regular in the Predators lineup; after making the NHL squad out of training camp, he finished the season with 17 points (4g-13a) and 60 penalty minutes in 69 games.
“I’m not going to lie,” Smith said. “Last year during training camp and the first half of the season was a pretty big mental battle for me, just showing up every day. But no matter how comfortable you are, you’ve got to earn your position in this league. Nothing's given. So I think that's something I've always brought with me through my life, just working hard. It doesn't matter what position you are; you’ve got to be a leader to somebody and you’ve got to prove something every day. That's just kind of where I fall and I can't stray away from that, because that's kind of my identity.”
The clean-slate, prove-your-value concept is especially true at this year’s training camp, where returning Preds players are tasked with learning new systems under first-year head coach Andrew Brunette. “Fast,” “flying” and “sprinting” were among the words used by players on Friday to describe the pace of play that Brunette expects from them.
“I think the intangibles that I had before – work hard, skate fast – should fit well in this system,” Smith said. “I’m [hoping to] be able to bury a few more pucks and get those chances to put them in the back of the net this year.”
Throughout his coaching career, Brunette's teams have been known for their high-octane offense. But his coaching philosophy centers around more than just scoring goals. He wants to dominate the puck, which is something Smith does extremely well – and Brunette has already taken notice.
“I love his relentlessness on the puck,” Brunette said, “He hounds pucks, which I appreciate. It’s something that’s [part of] our identity and how we want to play. He fits that mold. He doesn’t stop working, and it’s hard not to like him.”
Smith’s strong work ethic is one of his strengths, and he has been using it to his advantage during his offseason training. Upon returning to his native Minnesota for the summer, Smith took extra measures to work on his shot with the hope of improving his offensive numbers in 2023-24.
“I shot a lot of pucks this summer,” Smith said. “I built a new place back home and I added a spare garage, so I put a little shooting room in there and that allowed me to shoot a few more pucks. Anytime I was on the ice, skating, I was drawing up the pass routes there and just making paths to get the puck and shoot. So I think that's something I really took from last year going into summer, just shooting a lot of pucks and just bearing down and trying to score.”
Since returning to Nashville, Smith has made an effort to build upon his offseason training by learning from his more experienced teammates. He has especially enjoyed having a front-row seat to watch and practice with Ryan O’Reilly, who signed a four-year, $18 million contract with the Predators on July 1. O'Reilly, a Stanley Cup champion with the St. Louis Blues who will enter the 2023-24 season just nine games shy of 1,000 in his NHL career, has amassed 702 points (256g-446a) over 14 seasons in the league. Most recently, he had 20 points (7g-13a) in a combined 24 regular-season and playoff games with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
“If you watch Ryan O'Reilly out there, he plays everything through,” Smith said. “He's putting pucks in the back of the net, no matter what. The whistle blows, and he's still putting it in the back of the net. I think it's just those little habits that you can build in practice, where you’re just relentlessly putting the puck in the net. My dad's always told me, ‘Practice doesn't make perfect, but practice makes permanent.’ So the more you practice those little things, it’s going to carry over.”
Smith even had an opportunity to play on a line with O’Reilly and Filip Forsberg in Friday’s intrasquad scrimmage and took full advantage. According to Brunette, the Forsberg-O’Reilly-Smith line was “buzzing” with chemistry.
“I think it's always pretty cool when you get to play with top-end players like that,” Smith said. “Their résumés in the game speak for themselves. It's cool and it’s unique, trying to learn from what they do and talk to them on the bench and that kind of thing, and kind of figure out what they're looking for and try to build a little bit of chemistry there. I think I'm always going to try to bring what I bring to the table – speed, work ethic, that kind of thing – so if I can be able to do that, get them the puck and make some plays, that’s huge.”
No matter where Smith ends up playing in the Predators lineup this season, he wants to earn his spot. Since signing with Nashville as a free agent in 2020 after being overlooked in the NHL Draft, he has dedicated his career to proving doubters wrong and carving out a place for himself in this league.
“I've obviously taken a different path,” Smith said. “I look back, and I think I've earned almost everything I've gotten. It’s something I'm proud of, being able to work hard and kind of prove people wrong, and that never ends. You're proving people wrong, but you’re also proving yourself right at the same time. So, you’ve just got to carry that into every single day.”
