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By any measure, Jackson Blake has made a rapid ascent in the NHL.
The Carolina Hurricanes took the winger in the fourth round of the 2021 draft. He made the team in 2024 after two years at North Dakota, scored 22 goals in his second season, and has been fitted for a Stanley Cup ring.
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He was the Canes’ leading scorer in the 2026 playoffs, combining with center Logan Stankoven and veteran left wing Taylor Hall to sizzle as a line and consistently produce.
“Two years ago, if you told me I’d be in this position I probably wouldn’t have believed you, obviously,” Blake said Friday in an interview at training camp. “It’s gone by fast, too. It feels like I’ve only been here a little bit, but it also feels like I’ve been here for a while now.
“Yeah, it’s pretty crazy and cool to be a part of all this.”
After his rookie season, Blake was offered and accepted an eight-year, $45 million contract with the Hurricanes. The signing came shortly before his 22nd birthday, and he jokingly said he planned to splurge and buy a new boat for his family while noting, “I don’t really like to spend money very much.”
And then Blake went out last season and had 22 goals and 53 points in the regular season. Come the Stanley Cup playoffs, No. 53 had seven goals and a team-leading 20 points in 19 games.
Blake smiled Friday when reminded of his overtime goal that ended the second-round series against the Philadelphia Flyers, an ecstatic Blake skidding across the ice on his knees. Some celly that was.
Blake also had a huge goal in the game that clinched the Cup. After Hall had given the Canes 1 -0 lead against Vegas in Game 6 of the Cup Final, Blake made it 2-0 in the second period off a Stankoven pass. Carolina of course won, 3-0.
With NHL teams handing out some mind-bending, megabuck contracts in the offseason — $18 million a year for the Ducks’ Leo Carlsson, to name one — the inevitable question about Blake was, did he sign too soon?
Paying Blake an average of $5.625 million a season is quite the bargain for the Canes, given his production and his promise.
And to think, Stankoven signed an eight-year, $48 million deal a few weeks before Blake in July 2025. How good do those two contracts look for the team now?
Blake said Friday he does not regret getting his contract done when he did.
“No, definitely not,” he said. “It is what it is. I’m not going to complain. Obviously, you want to make as much as you can and all that stuff. But you also want to have good teams, and if that’s going to help us win more, then do it.
“I don’t know. There are a lot of big deals coming out, but I don’t look at it that way. I’m grateful for what they gave me. I’m sure ‘Stanks’ feels the same way. We’ve talked about it. But we want to be here for our whole career, and we want to win every single year, so if that’s what it takes that’s what it takes.”
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After two years of college hockey at North Dakota, where he was a Hobey Baker Award finalist in 2024, Blake won a roster spot in training camp and made the jump to the NHL in the 2024-25 season. It helped that his father, Jason, played in the NHL and was able to advise him on what to expect and what it takes to make it through the grind of a long season.
At 5-11 and 180 pounds, Blake isn’t a big guy on the ice. But his shiftiness, skill and scoring touch make the right-shot winger a dangerous offensive player, and he’s become a better 200-foot player.
What’s the next step for Blake in his third NHL season?
“I think what we saw in the playoffs, he obviously took that step,” Canes coach Rod Brind’Amour said Friday. “If he can maintain that and keep getting better … I thought the jump from the regular season to the playoffs was pretty evident with him. Hopefully, that keeps going.”
Could Blake become a 30-plus goal-scorer this season?
“I don’t know,” Brind’Amour said. “I would say more than that. … He’s a threat every time he’s on the ice. Those are the special players you notice him every time he touches the ice. That’s what he’s becoming.”
Blake’s only focus is on winning another Stanley Cup. Once was nice but …
“You can’t even realize until you do it how fun it really is,” he said. “Doing it now, and realizing what comes with it, even though it’s the hardest trophy to win in sports and it’s so long and grueling and makes for a long year and so many games, it’s so worth it in the end.
“We know what it’s like to win one now. That’s the motivation.”
The Canes and Florida Panthers got the preseason started Sunday as the Panthers took a 6-3 win in Sunrise, Florida.
The Panthers played mostly veterans and a lineup that could be on the ice when the two teams start the 2026-27 regular season Sept. 29 at the Lenovo Center. The Canes went with younger guys and prospects while also giving goalie Pyotr Kochetkov his first action since Dec. 20, 2025.
Defenseman Dominik Badinka got the Canes on the board first. Forwards Justin Robidas and Bradly Nadeau scored in a span of 1:11 in the second period for a 3-3 tie, but the Panthers led 5-3 after the second period.
Brady Tkachuk had two goals and an assist for the Panthers, and Cole Reinhardt scored twice. Kochetkov was sharp in the first period, stopping 18 of 19 shots, but allowed five goals on 33 shots.
The Canes and Panthers go at it again Tuesday at the Lenovo Center, a week before the real thing.
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This story was originally published September 21, 2026 at 5:00 AM.