After playing one season with Minnesota, junior forward Matthew Wood inked his first professional contract Saturday, signing a three-year, entry-level deal with the NHL’s Nashville Predators.
Wood was a first-round selection, No. 15 overall, of the Predators in the 2023 NHL Draft and played his first two NCAA seasons at UConn before joining the Golden Gophers for the 2024-25 campaign.
He finishes his NCAA career with 44 goals and 57 assists for 101 points in 109 games and landed on the all-Big Ten honorable mention team while playing for Minnesota.
The Nanaimo, B.C., product tied for second on the team with a career-high 39 points behind 17 goals and 22 assists and owned a plus-19 rating this season. He had a point in all four postseason games for the Gophers to end his tenure on a five-game point streak, his third streak of five games.
Wood burst onto the scene opening night behind a three-assist performance versus Air Force and closed the campaign with 12 points in his last 11 appearances, including a four-game goal streak from Mar. 1-9. He recorded 12 outings with multiple points for the year, while scoring all three of his power-play tallies in the final nine outings.
