Headlines

  • Anze Kopitar Announces Retirement Following 2025-26 Season
  • 2025 NHL Training Camp Rosters
  • Flames Sign Mikael Backlund To Two-Year Extension
  • Mammoth Intend To Waive Connor Ingram
  • Maple Leafs To Hire Mark Giordano
  • Blackhawks Sign Matt Grzelcyk To PTO
  • Previous
  • Next
Register
Login
  • MLB Trade Rumors
  • Hoops Rumors
  • Pro Football Rumors

Pro Hockey Rumors

  • Home
  • Teams
    • Atlantic
      • Boston Bruins
      • Buffalo Sabres
      • Detroit Red Wings
      • Florida Panthers
      • Montreal Canadiens
      • Ottawa Senators
      • Tampa Bay Lightning
      • Toronto Maple Leafs
    • Central
      • Chicago Blackhawks
      • Colorado Avalanche
      • Dallas Stars
      • Minnesota Wild
      • Nashville Predators
      • St. Louis Blues
      • Utah Mammoth
      • Winnipeg Jets
    • Metropolitan
      • Carolina Hurricanes
      • Columbus Blue Jackets
      • New Jersey Devils
      • New York Islanders
      • New York Rangers
      • Philadelphia Flyers
      • Pittsburgh Penguins
      • Washington Capitals
    • Pacific
      • Anaheim Ducks
      • Calgary Flames
      • Edmonton Oilers
      • Los Angeles Kings
      • San Jose Sharks
      • Seattle Kraken
      • Vancouver Canucks
      • Vegas Golden Knights
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • MLB/NBA/NFL
    • MLB Trade Rumors
    • Hoops Rumors
    • Pro Football Rumors
Go To MLB Trade Rumors
Go To Hoops Rumors

Blade Jenkins De-Commits From U. Of Michigan, Signs With OHL’s Saginaw Spirit

May 4, 2017 at 8:36 pm CDT | by Zach Leach 1 Comment

A few different organizations in the world of hockey development were shaken up today as aptly-named 2018 NHL Draft prospect Blade Jenkins announced that he had signed with the Saginaw Spirit of the Ontario Hockey League. Jenkins had been selected fourth overall in the 2016 OHL Draft by Saginaw, but played this past season with the United States National Development Program U-17 Team.

For Saginaw, this is a major transaction. The team took a big risk last year in drafting Jenkins, who they had no guarantee would ever play for them. A Jackson, Michigan native, Jenkins had committed first to the U.S. National Team and second to the flagship school of his state, the University of Michigan. It is not often that American players who have committed to play college hockey instead choose to play Canadian juniors, but Jenkins is an exception. It may have helped that Saginaw is in fact an American-based team in Saginaw, Michigan, less than two hours from his home in Jackson and less than an hour further than Ann Arbor, where he would have gone to college.

Saginaw’s gain is the Michigan Wolverines’ loss, as NCAA bylaws prohibit Canadian major junior players from ever later playing college hockey. In an effort to preserve “amateurism”, a choice must be made and Jenkins decided he wanted to play at a higher level of hockey sooner rather than later, opting to join the Spirit for 2017-18 rather than join the Wolverines in 2018-19. This also means that the U.S. U-18 team will also have to adjust, as they planned on having Jenkins around next season.

Jenkins, who is still just 16 years old and already 6’0″ and 172 lbs., is developing into a big, two-way center. Jenkins earned his OHL draft slot and U-17 roster spot after scoring 36 points in 22 games at the midget level in 2015-16 and adding some noteworthy tournament performance along the way. Yet, in his first season playing against high-end competition, the offense disappeared as he had just eight points in 56 games. Jenkins is still very raw and has quite a bit of developing to do, but has the physical tools to become an elite player down the road. Saginaw hopes that he can begin to develop into that future star in 2017-18 after inking an unlikely contract today.

Share 0 Retweet 0 Send via email

NCAA| OHL| Saginaw Spirit

Players To Watch In Upcoming QMJHL Finals
Main
Golden Knights Sign Vadim Shipachyov
View Comments (1)

Comments

  1. BigGrumpki

    8 years ago

    Dear graphics designer…Please do not use white font in front of white backdrop.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Please login to leave a reply.

Log in Register

    Top Stories

    Anze Kopitar Announces Retirement Following 2025-26 Season

    2025 NHL Training Camp Rosters

    Flames Sign Mikael Backlund To Two-Year Extension

    Mammoth Intend To Waive Connor Ingram

    Maple Leafs To Hire Mark Giordano

    Blackhawks Sign Matt Grzelcyk To PTO

    Rangers Name J.T. Miller Captain

    Canadiens Discussing Extension For Kent Hughes, Jeff Gorton

    Mathew Barzal Ready For Islanders Training Camp

    Flyers Trade Ivan Fedotov To Blue Jackets

    Recent

    Anze Kopitar Announces Retirement Following 2025-26 Season

    Hurricanes Trialing Logan Stankoven As Second-Line Center

    Oilers Targeting November Return For Zach Hyman

    Metro Notes: Devils, Ovechkin, Capitals, Hart, Foerster, Bonk

    No Extension Talks Between Blackhawks, Connor Bedard

    Central Notes: Connor, Evangelista, Zuccarello, Neighbours, Molendyk, Reid

    Senators Notes: Jensen, Pinto, Eller

    No Extension Talks Between Capitals, John Carlson

    Islanders Notes: Varlamov, Engvall, Duclair

    Blackhawks’ Laurent Brossoit Underwent Hip Surgery

    Rumors By Team

    Rumors By Team

    • Avalanche Rumors
    • Blackhawks Rumors
    • Blue Jackets Rumors
    • Blues Rumors
    • Bruins Rumors
    • Canadiens Rumors
    • Canucks Rumors
    • Capitals Rumors
    • Devils Rumors
    • Ducks Rumors
    • Flames Rumors
    • Flyers Rumors
    • Golden Knights Rumors
    • Hurricanes Rumors
    • Islanders Rumors
    • Jets Rumors
    • Kings Rumors
    • Kraken Rumors
    • Lightning Rumors
    • Mammoth Rumors
    • Maple Leafs Rumors
    • Oilers Rumors
    • Panthers Rumors
    • Penguins Rumors
    • Predators Rumors
    • Rangers Rumors
    • Red Wings Rumors
    • Sabres Rumors
    • Senators Rumors
    • Sharks Rumors
    • Stars Rumors
    • Wild Rumors

    Latest Rumors & News

    Latest Rumors & News

    • 2025’s Top 50 Unrestricted Free Agents
    • Rasmus Andersson Rumors
    • Erik Karlsson Rumors
    • Rickard Rakell Rumors
    • Bryan Rust Rumors

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    Pro Hockey Rumors Features

    • Support Pro Hockey Rumors And Go Ad-Free
    • 2025 NHL Free Agent List
    • 2026 NHL Free Agent List
    • Offseason Trade Tracker
    • PTO Tracker 2025
    • Summer Synopsis Series 2025
    • Training Camp Rosters 2025
    • Pro Hockey Rumors On X
    • Pro Hockey Rumors Polls

     

     

     

     

    Navigation

    • Sitemap
    • Archives

    PHR Info

    • About
    • Privacy Policy
    • Commenting Policy

    Connect

    • Contact Us
    • Twitter
    • Facebook
    • RSS Feed

    Pro Hockey Rumors is not affiliated with National Hockey League, NHL or NHL.com

    Do not Sell or Share My Personal Information

    scroll to top

    Register

    Desktop Version | Switch To Mobile Version