Cole Smith's autograph will cost the Nashville Predators $2 million.

The payments will be spread out over two years, per the contract he signed, the team announced Wednesday morning. That contract begins next season.

The 28-year-old forward was going to be an unrestricted free agent after this season and is a $775,000 cap hit. His signing leaves the Predators with eight pending unrestricted free agents after this season.

The 6-foot-3, 195-pound Smith is in his second full season with the Predators. He has five goals and 11 assists in 46 games this season, and 24 goals and 33 assists in 124 career games.

Smith's 118 hits are second on the Predators and 12th in the NHL. He leads all Predators forwards in shorthanded time per game at 2 minutes, 19 seconds. He has one goal and two assists in shorthanded situations.

The Predators signed Smith as an undrafted free agent in 2020, after he spent four seasons at North Dakota. He had 24 goals and 27 assists during that time, including a career-best 18 points (11 goals, 7 assists) during his senior season while helping his team to the National Collegiate Hockey Conference regular-season championship.

In other news, the Predators assigned forward Juuso Parssinen to the Milwaukee Admirals on Tuesday. The soon-to-be-23-year-old forward has eight goals and four assists in 44 games this season, which he began by playing top-line minutes.

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This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville Predators sign Cole Smith to two-year contract