London adds USHL scoring star Thomas Zocco for retooling year

London has added one of the USHL’s most productive forwards, signing Thomas Zocco as an overager for the 2026-27 season and giving the Knights an immediate scoring boost for a retooling year. The 20-year-old finished fourth in USHL scoring last season with 70 points in 60 regular-season games, then added 13 points in 14 playoff games as Sioux Falls pushed all the way to the Clark Cup.

That production is exactly why London targeted him. Zocco is not a long-term project, he is a ready-made top-six forward who can bring pace, puck distribution and finishing touch right away, and the Knights are clearly using one of their limited overage slots on someone who can help now. London was already active in the roster market in June 2026, and with the Ontario Hockey League set to open its 2026-27 regular season on Thursday, Sept. 17, the timing points to a club trying to turn an early playoff exit into a quicker rebound.

Zocco’s path is also part of the larger junior-hockey leverage story. He had been listed as a Merrimack College commitment in February 2026, but that destination has since come off his social media, leaving his next step fluid as his OHL move takes shape. For top USHL players, the options between NCAA, pro, and CHL development paths are increasingly interconnected, and London’s move shows how aggressively major CHL contenders are now shopping the USHL for older, proven offense.

The numbers behind Zocco’s season explain the appeal. He scored 22 goals and handed out 48 assists in the regular season, then carried that momentum into the spring with a major role in Sioux Falls’ championship run. The USHL named him its Player of the Week on Feb. 9 after he produced three goals and four assists over three games, led all USHL skaters in scoring during that stretch and stretched his point streak to five games.

He also delivered in the moment. One USHL game report noted that Zocco scored in regulation and again in the shootout during Sioux Falls’ 4-3 win, a reminder that his value went beyond the box score. With the Stampede sitting first in the Western Conference at one point in the winter and Zocco among the players driving the offense, London is betting on a forward who has already shown he can tilt games, not just fill out a stat sheet.