Wings' Smith eyes college degree

Michigan Live profiles the growth of Detroit Red Wings defenseman Brendan Smith, who GM Ken Holland calls "a fabulous prospect" and notes "he looks like he's a real player."

Smith will be chipping away at his college degree this summer and is only 37 hours short of graduating with a major in sociology and a minor in kinesiology.

"I think it's really important," Smith said. "I think down the line, something that I would be good at is being a college coach and you need a degree for that, so that's a big motivator for me. There's life after hockey and that's something that everybody has to know that it would be nice to do something after your career.

"You get to see guys like (Chris Chelios) and (Kirk Maltby) and (Kris Draper) who are always back here doing something with hockey and it's something that we always want to stay in the hockey world and for me I think that that would be coaching at the university level."

Source: Brendan Savage, Michigan Live