Blum, a part of the 2007 Memorial Cup team, lost a spot in the record books when fellow d-man Mazden Leslie scored his 50th career goal
Jon Blum has re-entered the Vancouver Giants’ chat, with an assist from a Mazden Leslie goal.
Blum, 36, was a mainstay of the Giants’ heyday, and the 49 goals he amassed in the regular season from 2005-09 had been the team’s record for career tallies by a defenceman. That all changed on Saturday, when Leslie’s second of two markers in a 6-2 victory over the visiting Everett Silvertips at the Langley Events Centre gave him 14 for the campaign and 50 over his five years in Vancouver colours.
Leslie, 19, was a few months old when Blum made his Giants’ debut on Sept. 30, 2005. Blum’s still going strong on the ice, too, in the midst of his 16th pro season overall and his fourth in a row with German team EHC Red Bull München. At last count, he was seventh in scoring amongst German league defencemen, with 30 points, including three goals, in 40 games. He finished third among rearguards in the league last year, with 38 points, including eight goals, in 43 games.
“At 19 playing for the Giants would I imagine still playing today? Probably not,” Blum explained in a Instagram message interview. “I’ve been fortunate enough to stay relatively injury free, and my numbers seem to get better as I get older. So I will keep playing as long as I can.”
Those teams brought the best of times for the Giants, and Blum was a central figure, a key player in four straight 100-point regular season finishes. The product of Rancho Santa Margarita, Calif.,played in two world juniors for the U.S., he won the CHL’s top defenceman award in his last year as a Giant in 2008-09. You talk best Giants careers and Blum has to be in the conversation. He still has the team mark for all-time assists (155).
Blum was a first-round pick (No. 23 overall) in the 2007 NHL Draft by the Predators. He split his first six seasons in pro between the minors and the NHL, and wound up seeing duty in 110 games over that span with the Predators and the Minnesota Wild.
He started in Europe in 2015-16, with four seasons in Russia and then two more in Sweden preceding this stint in Germany.
Blum and wife Emilie have three kids — Jackson is eight, Maverick turns six later this month and Kira is one month old.
“I still very much enjoy playing at the age of 36,” Blum relayed. “Not many players can have as long of a career as I have had, so any time at this age you’re still playing and doing well on the ice it means a lot.
“The best part of playing in Europe is definitely all the family time. Only two games a week and not a lot of travel. The two breaks in November and February allow us to travel to many places around the world. Dubai has for sure been our favourite.”
The Giants (25-20-6-0) return to action on Valentine’s Day Friday, visiting the Victoria Royals (31-14-3-5) in the opener of a home-and-home weekend set. The teams are at the LEC on Saturday.
Vancouver has 17 games remaining in the regular season and Leslie was second in the WHL scoring amongst defencemen, with 59 points, before league play on Tuesday.
The Giants’ record for points in a season for a defenceman is 71, set by Bowen Byram in 2018-19. He had 26 goals, which is a Vancouver single-season best for rearguards as well.
Byram, 23, is in his sixth NHL season, playing with the Buffalo Sabres. He had 46 goals in his three-plus years with the Giants.
Leslie has 177 points in his career. Blum has the club mark for blue liners with 204.
“Jon Blum is obviously a heck of a player,” said Leslie, who’s Vancouver’s captain this year. “Passing him (for goals) is very special.
“It means a lot to me now. It’ll probably mean even more to me when I look back on it in 20 years.”
Leslie is age eligible to return to the Giants next season as one of their three 20 year olds. He said last week that he’s hoping to land a spot in pro hockey, and if he does not he’ll play next season instead for the Bowling Green State University Falcons, an NCAA program in Bowling Green, Ohio. The NCAA is opening up scholarship opportunities to players from the WHL and their Major Junior brethren from the OHL and QMJHL for the first time next season.
Leslie is 10th all time in regular season games played (263) for Vancouver and he could wind up tying Mitch Bartley (280) for sixth by season’s end. Neil Manning (310) leads the way. Blum (248) is 12th.
@SteveEwen