The trail went Cole for the Blackhawks during the opening hours of NHL free agency Wednesday.
Veteran forward Cole Smith and veteran defenseman Ian Cole both signed with the Hawks, bringing veteran depth and physicality to a young roster.
Smith, 30, received a three-year contract with a $3 million salary-cap hit. Cole, 37, got a one-year contract with a $4 million cap hit, with the opportunity to earn up to an addition $750,000 via games-played bonuses.
Those contracts pale in comparison to Bowen Byram’s six-year extension with a $12.5 million cap hit — the Hawks’ headline news of the day — but they’re still a little steep for depth players. Smith and Cole’s cap hits were $1 million and $2.8 million, respectively, on their previous contracts.
Both Coles possess plenty of playoff experience, which not many other Hawks can say. Smith played on the Golden Knights’ fourth line during their run to the Stanley Cup Final this spring, whereas Cole won two Cups with the Penguins back in 2016 and 2017 and has made 135 career playoff appearances with nine different teams.
Forward depth
Smith profiles as a replacement for Ilya Mikheyev, who signed a four-year contract with the Lightning, agent Dan Milstein announced, after months of negotiations with the Hawks failed to produce an agreement.
Smith averaged 2:15 of shorthanded ice time per game over the last three seasons with the Predators (before his trade to the Knights), so he’ll likely inherit Mikheyev’s penalty-killing role.
He’s also an excellent skater like Mikheyev, consistently ranking in the top quartile of the league in speed bursts and maximum speeds.
He’s exponentially more physical than Mikheyev, having recorded 163 or more hits in each of his four full NHL seasons, and he can be a pest after the whistle, too.
But he chips in less offense than Mikheyev: he topped out at 23 points in 2023-24 and tallied only 12 points in 63 games last season.
Defensive depth
Cole has a long track record of delivering under-the-radar solid results in second- and third-pairing roles throughout his journeyman career. The Hawks just have to hope the age curve doesn’t finally catch up to him this season.
He doesn’t contribute much offensively; his 23 points with the Mammoth last season were actually his most since 2019-20. But his analytics are consistently impressive, sporting an expected-goals ratio above 53% in five consecutive seasons with three different teams.
Like Byram, Cole is left-handed but has ample experience playing both sides. And like Smith, Cole plays a lot on the penalty kill — he led the Mammoth in shorthanded ice time last season — and is willing to throw his body around in all situations.
Cole’s addition likely completes the Hawks’ 2025-26 defensive corps, jeopardizing Kevin Korchinski and especially Ethan Del Mastro’s holds on NHL jobs.
It’s possible Smith could be the last addition to the Hawks’ forward corps, too, unless a trade for an established top-six winger materializes.
This story will be updated.