The Nashville Predators have signed forward Joey Willis to a three-year entry-level contract.

The 19-year-old Elmhurst, IL native was selected by the Predators in the 2023 NHL draft in the fourth round with the 111th overall pick.

Willis played for the OHL’s Saginaw Spirit since 2022-2023 when the team drafted him in the fourth round of the OHL draft. In his OHL debut season, Willis played 68 games and recorded 15 goals and 44 pts. The following season Willis played 66 regular season games and scored 14 goals and 50 points. Willis went on to recorded four goals and eleven points in 17 postseason games to help the Saginaw Spirit win the Memorial Cup on June 2, 2024.

Willis continued his impressive play to start the 2024-2025 season. He scored 17 goals and 34 points in the first 26 games before being traded on January 7 to the Kingston Frontenacs in a blockbuster OHL deal. In his 12 games with Kingston since the trade, Willis has score four goals and ten points.

Willis represented the gold medal winning Team USA in the 2025 World Juniors. Willis played two games at the tournament in which he recorded two assists.

Willis has proven to be a smart player in all three zones, but this season he has started to unlock more offensive production with both Saginaw and Kingston. The Frontenacs are Memorial Cup contenders, so it remains to be seen when Willis’s postseason will wrap up and whether he will play any games in Milwaukee in the 2024-2025 season.