Waterloo first-rounder Nash Roed joins NTDP for 2026-27 season
Waterloo sent first-round pick Nash Roed into the U.S. National Team Development Program for the 2026-27 season, keeping the 16-year-old on a route the Black Hawks still expect to circle back to Young Arena in 2027-28. The move, announced July 9, preserves Waterloo’s long-term stake in a player it selected ninth overall in the 2025 USHL Phase I Draft.
For Waterloo, Roed’s brief junior stop was enough to show why the organization viewed him as worth that investment. He played 11 late-season USHL games for the Black Hawks and finished with four points, scoring one goal and adding three assists. His first USHL goal came in a 3-2 Waterloo win over the NTDP U18s on March 20 at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan, a result that also fit the kind of hard-fought edge that often defines games between the league and USA Hockey’s development program. Waterloo said that victory was just its second in the last 10 meetings with the older NTDP team.
Roed’s path is a clear example of how elite prospects can move fluidly between the USHL and the NTDP without the relationship breaking. Waterloo’s release framed him as a future Black Hawk rather than a lost asset, and the Black Hawks said they expect him to continue developing with the goal of joining the club in 2027-28. The NTDP added Roed on July 9 alongside defensemen Charlie Mineman and Jake Prunty, placing him into a group built to accelerate players against top-tier competition.
The 2026-27 U.S. National Under-18 Team is scheduled to open its season Sept. 11 with a USHL preseason game against Muskegon. That calendar gives Roed a season against elite peers before he is again projected to enter Waterloo’s pipeline, where the organization has already seen what he can do in a short stint.
Roed arrived in junior hockey with a high-scoring track record at White Bear Lake High School, where he led the team as a sophomore with 20 goals, 22 assists and 42 points in 27 games. White Bear Lake finished 13-12-3 and reached the section championship game, and Roed’s production there, plus his early run with Waterloo, is why the Black Hawks are still treating him as part of their future.