HOW THE STINGRAYS BECAME HOME FOR JOSH WILKINS

Stingrays forward Josh Wilkins has played professional hockey for the last five seasons and is gearing up for his third season with South Carolina.

Wilkins, 27, grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, and credits his older brother for introducing him to hockey at a young age. He started out playing roller hockey, but the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes inspired him to swap out his rollerblades for ice skates, and he played youth hockey for the Carolina Junior Hurricanes. 

In his teenage years, he moved around the country to pursue higher-level hockey. His path in junior hockey wound through Los Angeles and Atlanta, followed by a brief stop in Windsor, Ontario, before continuing to Austin, Minnesota, and Sioux City, Iowa. Wilkins excelled on the ice and earned a commitment to play NCAA Division I hockey for Providence College.

The 5-11, 185-pound forward enjoyed a productive three seasons at Providence, scoring 108 points (48 goals, 60 assists) in 119 games. In his junior year, he averaged over a point per game and helped Providence reach the Frozen Four. NHL teams heavily recruited Wilkins, and he signed an entry-level contract with the Nashville Predators following his junior year at Providence.

Wilkins spent the 2019-20 season with the Milwaukee Admirals, the Predators' AHL affiliate. He split the following season between the AHL's Tucson Roadrunners and the ECHL's Florida Everblades. Ahead of the 2021-22 season, he decided to play in the HockeyAllsvenskan league, the second-highest league in the Swedish ice hockey system.

"I had heard a lot of good things about playing overseas," Wilkins said. "I figured it would be a good opportunity for me to see how it is, and I really enjoyed it." 

On the ice, Wilkins was no longer putting up the dominant numbers he had in college. He wasn't sure he wanted to keep playing. That changed when he moved to Charleston with his now-wife, Madeline, and she convinced him to give the Stingrays a chance ahead of the 2022-2023 season.

"When I first came to Charleston, I was initially planning on being done with hockey, to be honest. I was over the game and burnt out," Wilkins said. "My wife inspired me, saying, 'Hey, maybe just try one year. You don't know how it is here. You may like it, or you may not.' Obviously, I really loved it. The people here, the culture, and everything about the Stingrays make it much more enjoyable. In my first year here, I was trying to figure out, 'Am I still a really good player? Can I still be a good player?'. I found my game again. I've really enjoyed my time here."

Being in Charleston helped Wilkins regain his passion and love for the game of hockey. He averaged a point per game in each of his previous two seasons with the Stingrays, and he served as an assistant captain last season. He skated in 37 of the Stingrays' first 38 games last year before spending the rest of the season playing overseas in the top Slovakian league. The decision to depart midway through last season was difficult for Wilkins. He loved the Stingrays, and Charleston had become home for him, but he and his wife knew they wanted to start a family.

"I made a tough choice financially to help my family last year," Wilkins said. "When you're enjoying your time in a spot so much, it makes it that much harder to leave. With the situation I was in, I hope people can understand that you make choices not necessarily thinking about what fans are going to think. You think about your family and what they need."

When the Slovak Extraliga season concluded in mid-April, Wilkins headed home to Charleston, and he knew he wanted to play for the Stingrays again. He and his wife are expecting a baby girl in December. Wilkins and Stingrays defenseman Connor Moore teamed up to start JW Landscaping, a landscaping business based in the Lowcountry. If Wilkins was going to keep playing professional hockey, it needed to be in Charleston. He spoke with Stingrays President Rob Concannon and Head Coach Jared Nightingale and signed with the Rays in July. Wilkins is thrilled to be a Stingray again and is grateful to the fans for welcoming him back with open arms and supporting him and Moore when they started JW Landscaping.

"I wanted to start my landscaping company this summer, and it worked out really well. I put it on the Facebook page for Stingrays fans, and that's how it got started. Obviously, Mooresy has been a huge help, too. I didn't realize how good he is at landscaping stuff. Our fans have been awesome at helping us grow, and I wanted to come back to the Stingrays and try to win here for them, and I think we can. I want to help do my part in that, and I'm here to stay now," Wilkins said.

"It's no secret that Josh is really skilled and an elite player at the ECHL level," Nightingale said. "Not many players have that ability to change the game in just one play. I'm excited that Josh wants to win in Charleston. He understands that on a winning team, it's about much more than getting points and filling the stat sheet. It's bringing the younger players around, and he's going to be in a leadership role. I'm happy with our conversations, and it seems like he's going to be bought in and on board." 

Nightingale thinks Wilkins can lead by example this season. 

"The best leaders I played with, it's not that they're vocal. I don't think Josh is an overly vocal guy, but when a guy like that, a high-end player, competes hard, and he's bought into the team vision, that speaks more to players than anybody could vocalize," Nightingale said.

"Leadership is definitely learned," Wilkins said.  If you knew my 20-year-old self, he would say, 'There's no chance this guy's ever gonna wear a letter in his life.' Just because I was kind of a wild child and trying to figure my life out," Wilkins said. "I've learned over the years that maybe running around as a kid isn't always the best scenario, and growing up can be challenging but really good, and I adapted that leadership role over time." 

The Stingrays will lean on Wilkins this season to help them return to the playoffs after missing out by one point last season. He believes he has grown into the leader they need him to be.

"Since I came to the Stingrays, I figured out what I wanted to be as a player and a person, and I really enjoy helping guys out," Wilkins said. "I'm married now, I have a kid on the way,  I've got my dog here, and we have a house, so this is home for me."