From USHL scratch to No. 2 NHL draft prospect, Chase Reid rises

Chase Reid was scratched for the first eight games in Waterloo, and that early slide became the turning point that pushed him from USHL uncertainty to the edge of the 2026 NHL Draft. The 6-foot-2, 190-pound defenseman is now ranked No. 2 among North American skaters by NHL.com, behind only Gavin McKenna, and its post-combine mock draft projected him to the San Jose Sharks at No. 2 overall.

That climb has been built on a clear reset in usage and production. Reid was released by Waterloo after playing just 10 games, then moved to Bismarck in the NAHL, where he scored 12 points, six goals and six assists, in 18 games. He joined Sault Ste. Marie in December 2024 and has since settled into a draft-year profile that NHL Central Scouting could not ignore, ranking him No. 4 among North American skaters in its midterm list before the final rankings followed.

Reid has been direct about the mental toll of the first stage of his junior career. Being scratched for the first eight games in Waterloo was, in his words, "really defeating" mentally. The move out of the USHL, though painful in the moment, became the springboard for the rest of his rise. Reid said getting sent down was "probably the best thing to ever happen" because it pushed him to lean on family and faith, a shift that matched the on-ice jump in confidence once he started playing a bigger role in Bismarck.

Sault Ste. Marie coach John Dean remembered the moment Reid arrived, a reminder that the Greyhounds got a player whose path had already been shaped by adversity. Reid’s rise also fits the larger USHL pipeline picture. The league said 67 players with USHL ties were in NHL Central Scouting’s midterm rankings in January 2026, and that number rose to 68 in the final rankings in April. Even after Reid’s exit from Waterloo, his trajectory still reflects how often the league remains a launch point, even for players who have to take a detour before they take off.

The 2026 Upper Deck NHL Draft will be held June 26-27 at KeyBank Center in Buffalo, and Reid enters it as one of the clearest examples of how a setback in junior hockey can become the start of a first-round push.