Josh Wilkins (born June 11, 1997) is an American professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

for

HK Dukla Michalovce HK Dukla Michalovce is a professional ice hockey team playing in the Tipsport Liga (hockey), Slovak Extraliga, the top level of ice hockey in the country. They play in the city of Michalovce, Slovakia at Michalovce Ice Stadium. History The club wa ...

of the

Slovak Extraliga The Tipos Extraliga (Slovak Extraliga) is the highest-level ice hockey league in Slovakia. From the 2018–19 season to the 2020–21 season, the league included one or two teams from Hungary. In 2009, it was ranked by the IIHF as the fifth stro ...

(Slovak). He was an All-American for

Providence Providence often refers to: * Providentia, the divine personification of foresight in ancient Roman religion * Divine providence, divinely ordained events and outcomes in Christianity * Providence, Rhode Island, the capital of Rhode Island in the ...

Playing career

Wilkins began his college career in 2016 with

. Straight away he began providing a good deal of scoring, finishing third on the team as a freshman. He held steady in his sophomore season but improved his performance in the postseason, scoring two game-winning goals in the Friars run to the Hockey East championship game. As a junior, Wilkins became one of the top scorers in the nation, finishing in the top 10. Wilkins then helped Providence reach the

Frozen Four The annual NCAA Division I Men's Ice Hockey Tournament is a college ice hockey tournament held in the United States by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to determine the top men's team in Division I. Like other Division I cham ...

by scoring 4 goals in three postseason games. After his third season, Wilkins signed a two-year entry level contract with the

Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...

. Wilkins had a hard time finding his scoring touch as a professional, netting just 3 goals in his first full season. Due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

he was limited to just 30 games the following season. Though his performance did improve slightly, it wasn't enough to earn him an extension and he headed to

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in 2021. Following two seasons in the Swedish

HockeyAllsvenskan HockeyAllsvenskan (previously Allsvenskan and SuperAllsvenskan) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league, and the second-highest league in the Sweden, Swedish ice hockey system (after the Swedish Hockey League, SHL). Since the 2009–10 ...

, Wilkins returned to North America for the

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

season, signing a contract with the South Carolina Stingrays of the ECHL on June 21, 2022. While a forward with the South Carolina Stingrays, he led the team in assists and points. He had 62 points in 62 games.

Career statistics

Personal life

He resides in Charleston, South Carolina with his finance, Madeline Nelson. The two also have an American Leopard Hound, Bubba Gump Wilkins.

Awards and honors

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wilkins, Josh 1997 births Living people American men's ice hockey centers Ice hockey people from North Carolina Sportspeople from Raleigh, North Carolina AHCA Division I men's ice hockey All-Americans HK Dukla Michalovce players Florida Everblades players Milwaukee Admirals players Providence Friars men's ice hockey players Sioux City Musketeers players South Carolina Stingrays players Tucson Roadrunners players Västerviks IK players HC Vita Hästen players