Jon Blum’s unusual road from first-round draft pick to NHL castaway to U.S. Olympian isn’t lost on the former Wild defenseman.
“Olympic hockey players aren’t usually molded this way,” he said with a laugh.
Yet as the Americans compete in their first Olympics without NHL players in 20 years, players such Blum have embraced the unpopular decision the league made to keep its athletes out of the 2018 Winter Games in South Korea.
Instead, the U.S. is relying on a mix of former NHL players who largely spend their winters playing professionally in Europe. Results in South Korea so far have been mixed; Team USA split its first two Olympic games, losing to Slovenia 3-2 and beating Slovakia 2-1, entering Saturday’s much-anticipated meeting with the Olympic Athletes from Russia.
“It’s been an unusual path, that’s for sure,” Blum said. “But I’ve been fortunate enough to play this game for nine years as a pro now, and for the most part, I’ve been having fun with it. This is an accomplishment that I can look back on when I retire.
“Just representing your country at this stage is crazy to think about. I’m truly honored to put that jersey on and have the American people back us.”
Blum entered the NHL with high hopes as a teenager from Long Beach, Calif., selected No. 23 overall in 2007. But his first four pro seasons yielded only 91 NHL games with the Nashville Predators before he signed with the Wild.
Two seasons later, the Wild owned Blum’s contract rights and offered only a pay cut on his minor-league deal. So, he bolted for Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League, a frustrating move at the time, but one that helped get him to the Winter Games.
“This is the biggest stage for hockey beside the Stanley Cup,” Blum said. “The whole world is watching, so it’s quite an honor to wear the red white and blue. For these two weeks, the whole country is rooting for you, so you don’t want to disappoint.”
The call to inform Blum that he had made the Olympic team came a few days before the Jan. 1 announcement. But with the time change, it didn’t arrive in Blum’s new hockey home in Sochi, Russia, until 2 a.m.
Calls to family and friends followed, and before long it was 4 a.m. and Blum needed a sleeping pill just to shut his eyes. “I had so much adrenaline after that call,” he said.
This U.S. team, which is so different from the 2014 team that included Wild stars Zach Parise and Ryan Suter, is now composed of players with similar stories to Blum.
That’s part of why Blum thinks the Americans could surprise people, even if they’ve had some disadvantages. They did not have a training camp together, unlike the team four years ago, and they had to resort to using email to share system and special team plans leading up to the Games.
“We’re not the biggest team, but I think we’re going to be small and quick with a lot of skill up front,” Blum said. “We have a good goalie. (Ryan) Zapolski is probably our No 1. I think we’re well coached. That’s going to help a lot with these tournaments. We have a lot of experience with (head coach) Tony Granato and (assistant) Chris Chelios. There’s a lot of knowledge and experience with the coaching staff that’s going to help us.”