Sometimes, wives know best.

Prior to the start of the 2022-23 season, Josh Wilkins was burned out. He wasn’t sure hockey was in his future. He was no longer putting up the dominant numbers he had in college, where he led Providence to the Frozen Four during his junior year.

But that was several years in the rearview mirror. Following that season, Wilkins signed an entry-level contract with the Nashville Predators. He spent the 2019-20 season with the Milwaukee Admirals, the Predators' AHL affiliate, then 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.

A New Lease On Life

Before the start of the 2022-23 season, Wilkins moved to Charleston with his now-wife, Madeline, who convinced him to give the Stingrays a try. She knew he still had the talent to contribute; he just needed the right situation.

"When I first came to Charleston, I was initially planning on being done with hockey, to be honest,” Wilkins told Stingrays PR. “I was over the game and burnt out. 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.”

The Stingrays are certainly glad Wilkins didn’t give up. He averaged a point per game in each of his previous two seasons with the club, and served as an assistant captain last season.

Wilkins skated in 37 of the Stingrays' first 38 games last year before deciding to spend the rest of the season playing overseas in the top Slovakian league.

It was a difficult choice to make. Wilkins 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."

Starting The Hockey Journey

Wilkins grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, and credits his older brother for introducing him to hockey at a young age. He began 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.

During his teen years, Wilkins took his game to a higher level and moved around the country. His path in junior hockey took him to 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-foot-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.

Back Home At Last

When the Slovak Extraliga season concluded in mid-April, Wilkins headed home to Charleston, and knew he wanted to play for the Stingrays again. He and his wife are expecting a baby girl in December.

There was another motive to return. Wilkins and Stingrays defenseman Connor Moore teamed up to start JW Landscaping, a business based in the Lowcountry. If Wilkins was going to keep playing professional hockey, it needed to be in Charleston.

Wilkins spoke with Stingrays President Rob Concannon and Head Coach Jared Nightingale and signed with the Rays in July. He’s 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,” Wilkins said. “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.”

Nightingale believes Wilkins can lead by example this season.

"The best leaders I played with, it's not that they're vocal,” he said. “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."

The Stingrays will lean on Wilkins this season to help them return to the playoffs after missing out by one point in 2023-24. 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."