Prospect Report: Blade Jenkins

The Canadian Hockey League officially cancelled the 2019-20 season on March 19 due to concerns over the COVID-19 outbreak. The news was especially disappointing for players like New York Islanders prospect Blade Jenkins and his teammates on the Saginaw Spirit, who won the OHL's West Division and were poised for a deep postseason run.

Now, back home in Michigan, Jenkins reflected on his final season of junior hockey. Despite being sidelined for six weeks due to a lower-body injury, Jenkins was pleased with his game up until the season's abrupt termination.
"It was a whirlwind," Jenkins said. "It was pretty up and down with the injury and being sidelined for about six weeks. That was tough and how it ended was pretty bittersweet. Overall, I thought it was a pretty successful season. Our team won another Western Division title. For myself, I started to come around after I got hurt. Those are the positives you can take from it."

With ample time on his hands, the 6-foot-2, 210-pound winger has reaped the benefits from daily competitive workouts and is following a strict regimen. He's maintained a competitive edge and stayed motivated alongside the company of his two former hockey-playing brother-in-laws.
"My goal was to drop probably 10 pounds of bad and put on a few of good," Jenkins said. "I've exceeded that, so I've been pretty happy with my results during this break. I mean when you don't have anything to do you might as well try and improve yourself, right? That was an eye opener to try and get a head start into summer. When you're in summer you only have about two months to do it, but now I've got about five or six so why not use that to your advantage."
Initially, upon his arrival home, Jenkins grappled with the shared frustration for most hockey right now of not having ice access. In turn, he purchased a pair of rollerblades. Fortunately for Jenkins, the inconvenience was short-lived before he was back lacing up his skates again and hitting the ice on a regular basis.
"My girlfriend has an actual hockey rink down in her basement," Jenkins explained. "They have a whole setup with ice. Usually, they take it out around March, but they ended up putting it back in about a month ago. I've been pretty fortunate with that and being able to skate down there… It's not a full-size [rink], it's probably about the size of a neutral zone, which is still a good size."

The Isles' 2018 fifth-rounder (134th overall) took away valuable insight from his second development camp with the organization last June. The 19-year-old embraced the feedback to be more consistent in his two-way game and relished in his leadership role as an alternate captain with Saginaw. On the ice, he takes pride in being a physical presence with each shift and providing consistent offense.
Jenkins finished the season with 40 points (16G, 24A) through 47 games. Leading up to the CHL's cancellation, he went on a nine-game tear with 15 points (7G, 8A) during that span.
"That was probably the best I was feeling up until that point," Jenkins said. "I was feeling confident and producing on a consistent basis. When you start doing that, you start feeling confident and when that happens things usually start to go the right way."
For Jenkins, it was exciting to enrich his chemistry with fellow Islanders prospects Cole Coskey (2019 seventh rounder) and, later, Bode Wilde (2018 second rounder), who each had successful seasons as well.
"I've become pretty close with [Coskey] over the last couple of years," Jenkins said. "For him to get drafted was pretty special. To have Bode there and to see him step up and the year he had was good for him. When I got injured, [Cole] kind of took off there. That just shows the leadership he has and how he was able to take over when things were going array for the team and still being able to put up points."
Jenkins and the Spirit finished the season third overall in the OHL with a record of 41-16-5 and earned back-to-back Western Division titles. The group benefited from returning leadership and the immense depth with seven NHL prospects on the roster; not to mention the presence of the highly-touted and projected 2020 NHL draftee Cole Perfetti, who led the team in scoring with 111 points (37G, 74A) through 61 games.

"Coming into this season], we had a lot of guys return and we were able to get a taste of what winning felt like," Jenkins said. "For us to have that, I think it separated us. The skill level we had was by far one of the best in the league. It showed what we could do on a nightly basis on putting the puck in the net and being good on both sides of the puck. That was our biggest attribute this year; having guys with experience and everyone wanting to win a championship. Not too many locker rooms have every guy focused on the same goal."
While no decision has been finalized on where hockey might take him next season, Jenkins is focused on honing his craft and priming himself for whatever opportunity may arise.
"I'm feeling ready to make the jump up to the next level wherever that may be," Jenkins said. "Hopefully, it's in the New York Islanders organization. That'd be a dream come true. But definitely the consistency would be a factor. Going into next year, I want to be able to bring my consistent game every night and have a positive impact on the game and produce on a nightly basis."
**UPDATE:**
[Jenkins signed an agreement with the Islanders on Thursday.