Wiesblatt Gets His Shot with Nashville

When Ozzy Wiesblatt skated over to his mother to flip her a puck minutes before making his NHL debut for the Nashville Predators on the evening of Jan. 3 — an exchange that was caught on camera and soon zapped around social media channels — hardly anyone understood the significance behind the 22-year-old Canadian right winger’s gesture.

As any hockey parent can attest, the sport requires a tremendous investment of time and financial resources, but for Kim White, who is deaf and had to juggle multiple jobs while raising Ozzy, his three hockey-crazed brothers, and her daughter largely by herself in a Jewish household in Western Canada, seeing her child reach the sport’s pinnacle was nothing short of life-changing. And for Ozzy, the puck toss was a silent act that perfectly embodied the indescribable amount of appreciation he had for his mother, who sacrificed so much for him to realize his dream.

Accompanying the clip of Wiesblatt and his mother making the social media rounds was another video, one in which Ozzy officially introduced himself, that was featured prominently across Nashville’s outlets. This one was different in that it was staged and scripted — but it was similar in that it also lacked spoken words.

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“My name’s Ozzy, people call me ‘Oz,’” Wiesblatt, who had just been called up from the Predators’ minor-league affiliate in Milwaukee, conveyed in American Sign Language. “I learned sign language from my mom — my first language, you could say — all my brothers know it and my little sister. I’m very excited to be here. Excited for my family and everything.”

On paper, Wiesblatt’s road to the NHL may appear to be fairly typical. He was drafted 31st overall by the San Jose Sharks in the first round of the 2020 draft and spent the next few seasons playing in developmental leagues before getting dealt to the Nashville Predators organization last summer. He flashed signs of NHL readiness during training camp but was eventually sent back down to the minors where he kept putting in his dues and was finally rewarded with a promotion.

But no box score, stat sheet, or game log can tell the sacrifices that Wiesblatt’s mother made to be a supportive hockey mom, even more so starting in 2013, when the Wiesblatt family moved from Kelowna back to Calgary and she soon split from her husband, Art Wiesblatt, who is also deaf — or how she and her sons were at times ridiculed by opposing coaches and players in rinks across Western Canada for communicating in a non-verbal manner.

It’s crazy. It’s something you dream about as a kid, and for it to finally happen, it’s crazy.

For Kim, this was incredibly heartbreaking because back when their kids were in elementary school, she and Art had initially encouraged sports as a means of improving verbal communication with their peers and now Ozzy and his three brothers (Ocean, Orca and Oasiz) would occasionally skate off the ice with tears of humiliation — even though they were, in many cases, the best players on either team.

But a few months ago, when Nashville general manager Scott Nichol called to deliver the good news on New Year’s Eve, Ozzy Wiesblatt bolted from a small party, this time with tears of ecstasy. Two days later, speaking to reporters after his first NHL practice, the Calgary native remarked, “It’s crazy. It’s something you dream about as a kid, and for it to finally happen, it’s crazy. So many emotions going through. I’m really grateful to be here, very excited.

“You get here, you go into a beautiful hotel and now you come here and you’re in an NHL rink. It’s crazy, even seeing the guys that are in this dressing room, guys you grew up watching on TV, and you’re playing video games with these guys and a couple years later, you’re on their team. It’s a dream come true. That’s the only way you can really explain it.”

Back in the fall, Wiesblatt, a self-described “hard-nosed player that’s not afraid of bigger guys and scrums” was tantalizingly close to cracking the Predators’ roster before management ultimately thought he could benefit from a little more seasoning in the minors. Over 27 games in the American Hockey League (AHL), the mild-mannered, mustachioed forward potted seven goals and dished out seven assists, numbers that warranted the dreamy call-up.

“I was super happy with how I had my camp, but it’s always a battle to get back here. You always have to stay hungry,” he added the day before his first NHL appearance, a 3-0 blanking of the Vancouver Canucks, in which he logged nine minutes and 42 seconds of ice time and laid two hits.

It’s a dream come true. That’s the only way you can really explain it.

Wiesblatt did not stay up in Nashville very long. He stayed with the Predators as they traveled to his hometown of Calgary for the following evening’s tilt against the Flames, but didn’t take the ice again until Feb. 8 for what was his home debut against the Buffalo Sabres. And then it was back to the minors for a month. By early March, though, Wiesblatt ranked third on the Milwaukee Admirals in points with 32 (14 goals, 18 assists), numbers that warranted a return to Nashville. Though this time it was a one-game NHL stint, he made it count, registering his first-ever assist (and point) against the Seattle Kraken.

While Wiesblatt is currently back in the minors, another NHL call-up may be in the offing this spring as Nashville has an aging core of players (most notably left winger Filip Forsberg and center Steven Stamkos) and the team is nestled at the bottom of the Central Division standings, well outside of playoff contention. Even if Wiesblatt doesn’t get another shot of proving his NHL mettle in the waning days of this regular season, next year’s training camp is less than a half-year away. Meanwhile, for his mother, it remains a distinct possibility that she could one day watch another one of her sons suit up for an NHL team: the youngest Wiesblatt brother, Oasiz, is currently captaining the Medicine Hat Tigers of the Western Hockey League (WHL) after spending NHL training camp with the Washington Capitals as a free-agent invitee.