In a 2024-25 Nashville Predators season that has left much to be desired, defenseman Nick Blankenburg has emerged as an unexpected bright spot.
At 5-foot-9 and 177 pounds with a smile that can light up a room, Blankenburg is hardly the beefy, hard-nosed blueliner who strikes fear in the hearts of his opponents. What he lacks in size, however, he makes up for in speed and agility, as well as his above-average puck handling ability – all skills he learned during his formative years at Romeo High School, about 45 minutes outside of Detroit.
Blankenburg was a star forward – yes, forward – and the captain of the hockey team at Romeo. During his senior season in 2016, Blankenburg recorded 35 goals and 32 assists in 30 games to lead Romeo to its first-ever state championship.
After graduating, Blankenburg decided to pursue his dream of playing junior hockey. He tried out twice for the North American Hockey League but had no success. Since Blankenburg has a May birthday, he still had a year left of eligibility for Midget Major AAA hockey after graduating high school; so he tried out for the Victory Honda 18U team in Plymouth, Michigan. He made the team as an 18-year-old and played the 2016-17 season while working as a Zamboni driver.
A couple of months into the season, Victory Honda played in a showcase tournament with an injury-depleted blue line. Between the injuries and other players departing for the USHL, the team was down to just three defensemen.
“Our coach came in the dressing room between periods and was like, ‘Does anyone want to switch to defense? We need someone,'” Blankenburg said. “I looked around the room, and I was like, ‘Yeah, sure, I’ll play D.’ I’d get to play a ton of minutes, and I had nothing to lose.”
So, Blankenburg played defense for the first time that weekend before returning to his usual position at forward. A few weekends later, the same thing happened. He transitioned to the blue line again, and the results were positive – so positive, in fact, that he began to draw interest from the same junior hockey teams that had turned him down earlier that year.
After recording 10 goals and 18 assists in 32 games with Victory Honda, Blankenburg was scouted by the Okotoks Oilers of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. The following season, Blankenburg was living out his dream of playing junior hockey. He recorded 16 goals and 26 assists in 57 games during the 2017-18 season – as a defenseman.
As it turned out, Blankenburg would have to go all the way to Alberta in order to earn his next opportunity to play hockey in his home state. At 19 years old, while playing defense for Okotoks, he caught the attention of scouts from the University of Michigan.
“A Michigan guy playing in the AJ isn’t very common, and I was putting up pretty good numbers,” Blankenburg said. “Bill Muckalt, the Michigan associate head coach at the time, always recruited out in Western Canada. So he was like, ‘What’s a guy from Michigan doing playing in the AJ?’ So he came and saw me play.”
When Blankenburg went back home for Christmas break, Muckalt invited him for an official visit at Michigan. While the program didn’t have any scholarship money to offer at the time, Blankenburg was immediately offered a walk-on spot with guaranteed playing time.
“After that, I was driving back home, and I called my parents,” Blankenburg said. “I was like, ‘If you guys can do this, this is what I want to do.’ That upcoming year, I ended up playing every single game my freshman year but one. So I don’t think it could have worked out any better.”
Blankenburg, a starting defenseman for the Wolverines, waited patiently as future NHL first-rounders like Matty Beniers, Owen Power and Luke Hughes came to Michigan on scholarship over the next two years. Michigan finally offered Blankenburg a scholarship for his senior year in 2021-22 – the same year he was named a team captain.
“I continued to bet on myself and make it to where I am,” Blankenburg said. “It worked out great.”
Blankenburg had about two weeks remaining in his final semester of college when he signed a one-year, entry-level contract with the Columbus Blue Jackets as an undrafted free agent. He still had to take an exam and finish a 10-page paper after he got to Columbus, and he missed his graduation ceremony; but he still earned his bachelor’s degree in international studies with a focus in political and economic development.
Blankenburg made his NHL debut for the Blue Jackets on April 13, 2022. On April 24, in his sixth game, his first career NHL goal was the game-winning power play tally in a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers. That summer, he signed a two-year, $1.65 million extension with the Blue Jackets. During the 2023–24 season, he scored one goal in 12 games for Columbus. He also appeared in 24 games for the Blue Jackets’ AHL affiliate, the Cleveland Monsters, where he recorded three goals and ten assists.
Blankenburg signed a two-year contract with the Predators when free agency opened on July 1, 2024. He began the 2024–25 season with the Predators’ AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals, where he recorded three goals and five assists in 13 games. He was recalled by the Predators on Nov. 27 and quickly carved out a place for himself in the team’s everyday lineup.
Primarily playing opposite Brady Skjei on Nashville’s second defensive pairing, Blankenburg has amassed three goals and four assists over 32 games this season while averaging 18:20 of ice time per game. He ranks first on the team in plus/minus at plus-9; the only other players on the roster with a positive plus/minus ranking have appeared in 23 games or fewer this season.
When he reflects on his unconventional journey to the NHL, Blankenburg goes back to where it all began and credits the confidence he gained playing high school hockey in Michigan.
“I feel like high school really helped me a lot,” Blankenburg said. “It sounds crazy; it was very bad hockey. Michigan high school hockey is a lot better now, but at the time, it wasn’t anything compared to what most 18-year-olds were doing who are now playing with NHL.”
Despite all the factors working against him during his hockey journey – his size, his multiple failed tryouts, his walk-on status in college – Blankenburg’s belief in himself never wavered.
“I don’t know,” Blankenburg said. “I just always kind of had a feeling hockey would work out.”
Indeed, it did.
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