Sticking Around: Blake To Remain With Canes

RALEIGH, N.C. - There's a human element to trying to make a professional hockey team too.

Jackson Blake spent a good chunk of his summer in Raleigh and when the ball got rolling in September ahead of the annual Prospects Showcase, he was temporarily set up in a hotel as his home base.

The reality for many attending that tournament is that they would come back to North Carolina, pack their belongings, and head to the airport, moving on to their next destination - whether it be Chicago (AHL), a different minor league team, or to their junior club.

Blake stuck around though, going to training camp with the big club, and as we know now, making the team.

Being on the roster out of camp is one thing, remaining there is another.

There were no guarantees made to Blake outside of being on the opening night roster as Canes management planned to give him a look for a few games to see if he was ready for the NHL. From there, they'd reassess.

Just three weeks after the team's first regular season contest, it's been made public that the 21-year-old has passed the test.

Receiving a FaceTime from his dad, and longtime NHLer, Jason, earlier this week, Blake was informed that he should get a place of his own, finally moving on from the hotel life after two months.

"It was awesome news, a little relief," Blake answered when asked of the FaceTime. "It was really cool that they told my family first and that they shared the news."

Blake's certainly earned his way to stay with the group, not only recording his first NHL goal but producing four points through the team's first eight games.

"It's a little weight off my back," Carolina's fourth-round pick in 2021 continued. "I just want to push and strive for more every day and I'm going to continue to do that with a little more relief and more confidence."

More confidence could be scary for opponents, as Blake has displayed no shortage of it. There have been many examples of his dynamic abilities with the puck on his stick, including a near-highlight reel goal on Monday when he attacked 6-foot-7, 226 lbs. Vancouver defenseman Vincent Desharnais with a ferocious spin move.

Not bad for a 5-foot-11, 178-pound kid playing in his ninth career NHL game.

"I think I'm just getting more comfortable every day. Every day is a test and an opportunity. I just try and attack it 100%," Blake shared. "Each game I feel more comfortable and I feel a lot better out there, even since the start of training camp."

Now that he actually has to get a place, where does a 21-year-old in a new town even start?

"I called my mom right away," he laughed. "She's the helper when it comes to that sort of stuff. She helped us get a house in college and she was already looking yesterday. She's on it. I don't know too much and I'm not very good at it."

Admittedly never living alone before, the young forward knows there are challenges ahead of him, but even he's excited to see how he'll handle them.

"Hopefully I don't hear noises, I'll call my parents in the middle of the night," Blake further joked.

He's going to have to learn how his way around the kitchen too.

"At the hotel, you kind of have an excuse not to cook and just go to Chipotle every night, which is what I've been doing."

Whether he's fueled himself by way of bowls, burritos, salads, or tacos, Blake has impressed his new head coach.

"There's a kid that's done really well. We've talked about him a lot. Him being here, he's had to earn his way," Rod Brind'Amour said on Wednesday.

"Every shift he's being impactful. He's done really well. I don't want to say surprisingly, but how quickly he's adapted to the NHL game has been good."