Minnesota State junior forward Nathan Smith has signed with the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, forgoing his senior season with the Mavericks.
Smith, whose rights were traded from Winnipeg to Arizona last month, ranked second in the nation in scoring this year and first on the Mavericks in scoring with 19 goals and 31 assists for 50 points on the season.
A first team All-American this season, Smith was named this year’s CCHA forward of the year and was a CCHA first team all-star. A two-time CCHA forward of the month, he was also named CCHA forward of the week three times over the course of the 2021-22 season. He scored the game-winning goal in Minnesota State’s 1-0 win over Notre Dame at the NCAA Albany Regional and was named to the regional all-tournament team.
Smith also spent three weeks in China at the 2022 Winter Olympics with the U.S. men’s national team this year where he had a goal and an assist in four games played and had the game-winning goal in the win over Germany.
The Hudson, Fla., native, who was an all-WCHA second team pick as a sophomore and a WCHA all-rookie team honoree in 2019-20, finishes his three-year college career with 37 goals and 65 assists for 102 points in 101 games to rank 17th on the school’s all-time scoring charts.
