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…