Jonathon Blum

Blum was born in Long Beach, California and grew up in Rancho Santa Margarita, California. During his major junior career with the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League (WHL), Blum helped the club to a President\'s Cup as WHL champions in 2006 and a Memorial Cup as Canadian Hockey League (CHL) champions in 2007. He received the Bill Hunter Memorial Trophy as the WHL\'s top defenseman and the CHL Defenceman of the Year Award in 2009. In his final season with the Giants, he established himself as the franchise\'s all-time assists leader.\n', ' He was selected by the Predators 23rd overall in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft. Turning professional in 2009, he spent parts of three seasons with the Predators\' minor league affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League (AHL), before joining the Predators. Internationally, Blum has represented Team USA on four occasions. He won silver at the 2006 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament, and has competed in the 2008 and 2009 World Junior Championships, finishing without a medal both times. He also competed at the 2018 Winter Olympics, once again failing to medal.\n', ' Blum was born in Long Beach, California, to parents John and Dana. An avid surfer growing up in Rancho Santa Margarita, approximately 40 miles southeast of Long Beach, Blum was initially playing roller hockey recreationally at the age of four before discovering ice hockey a couple of years later. He played minor hockey with the California Wave, a team led by Jeff Turcotte, younger brother of former NHL player Alfie Turcotte. Due to the lack of elite minor hockey competition in California, the team travelled to Canada and the Northeast United States to play in top-level tournaments. Blum and the Wave recorded second-place finishes in national Midget AAA and Bantam AAA championships culminating in an international Bantam tournament championship in Kamloops, British Columbia, in 2004. Discovered by scouts at one such tournament, Blum was drafted by the Vancouver Giants of the WHL in the seventh round of the junior draft.\n', '