Chase Reid is an 18-year-old American defenceman selected seventh overall by the Seattle Kraken in the 2026 NHL Draft, and now a freshman at Michigan State. Three years earlier he had been taken 125th overall in the OHL draft, cut by a USHL team after ten pointless games, and sent to Tier II junior hockey in North Dakota. He won the CHL’s Top Draft Prospect Award last season.
| Current team | Michigan State University, NCAA — freshman, No. 27 |
| Position | Defence |
| Shoots | Right |
| Born | 30 December 2007, Chesterfield, Michigan |
| Height / weight | 6’2″ / 194 lbs |
| Drafted | 2026, first round, 7th overall, Seattle Kraken |
| Contract status | Unsigned. Seattle holds his rights while he plays NCAA hockey |
What happened when Chase Reid was cut?
He was drafted 125th overall — the seventh round — by the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds in the 2023 OHL Priority Selection. He then played ten games for the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks in 2023-24 without recording a point, and was let go.
What followed was Tier II hockey with the Bismarck Bobcats of the NAHL at 16. His mother, Magyn Reid, told the Kraken what the Waterloo experience had been like: “There was no feedback. It’s hard to get better when you don’t get any feedback.”
Reid’s own summary of where he thought his career stood: “I thought it probably wasn’t going to happen.”
His father RJ described how he responded: “He never stopped working hard. At one point he was eating like two pounds of beef a day just to get bigger and stronger.” He was listed at 185 lbs when the Greyhounds signed him in December 2024 and at 194 by the draft.
From 125th overall in a junior draft to seventh overall in the NHL draft took three years.
What are Chase Reid’s career stats?
| Season | Team | League | GP | G | A | P | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-24 | Waterloo Black Hawks | USHL | 10 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +1 |
| 2024-25 | Bismarck Bobcats | NAHL | 18 | 6 | 6 | 12 | +5 |
| 2024-25 | Soo Greyhounds | OHL | 39 | 7 | 33 | 40 | +4 |
| 2025-26 | Soo Greyhounds | OHL | 45 | 18 | 30 | 48 | +27 |
He got his release and joined the Greyhounds in December 2024. “Eventually, the Soo called, and I got the best news of my junior career,” he said. He finished that season leading all OHL rookies in assists with 33, and the next one leading every Greyhounds defenceman in goals and points, playing roughly 26 minutes a night.
On the NAHL detour: “It was great for my development and finding out who I truly was, you could say.”
What has Chase Reid won?
- CHL Top Draft Prospect Award, 2025-26 — presented at the CHL Awards in Toronto on 15 June 2026
- CHL Second All-Star Team and OHL First All-Star Team, 2025-26
- OHL First All-Rookie Team and most assists by an OHL rookie, 2024-25
- OHL Rookie of the Month, January 2025, with 19 points in 12 games
NHL Central Scouting ranked him the second-best North American skater in the 2026 class, and the highest-ranked CHL player in it.
Did Chase Reid play for Canada or the USA?
The United States. Reid is from Chesterfield, Michigan, and played the 2026 World Junior Championship for the US, scoring two goals and two assists in five games before the Americans were eliminated in the quarter-finals. He returned to the programme at the 2026 World Junior Summer Showcase in Windsor in July and August — the only returning player from that World Juniors roster on the US squad — scoring a power-play goal against Sweden and setting up a shorthanded goal against Finland.
Why did Chase Reid choose Michigan State?
Because it is thirty minutes from home, and because he could. He is among the first wave of CHL players to use the rule change that opened NCAA hockey to major-junior players from 2025-26.
“I wanted to play close to home,” he said. “The coaches were unbelievable, and everything about the facilities and the fans, seeing the environment the guys play in, it was pretty much a no-brainer.” He is Michigan State’s first player selected in the 2026 draft. The Spartans won the Big Ten regular-season title in 2025-26 and finished one game short of the Frozen Four.
What did Seattle say about drafting Chase Reid?
Kraken general manager Jason Botterill listed the reasons: “So many things fit well in selecting Chase. His offensive upside, size, a great skater who has played international hockey already.” He returned twice to the same points — “He’s a late bloomer who continues to improve his game,” and “Right-handed shot defensemen are in demand in the National Hockey League.”
Reid models his game on Zach Werenski: “He’s a big, strong defenseman who does all the little things right. He plays fast in transition, he’s got a bomb for a shot, and he uses his size to his advantage.”
Caleb Malhotra, taken third overall in the same draft, put it from a peer’s perspective: “I think his skating is probably his biggest one. He’s really elusive, really fast, especially on the blueline. He’s very dynamic.”
Who is Chase Reid’s family?
His parents are RJ and Magyn Reid, and his younger brother Blake, 14, plays AAA hockey in Michigan. About sixty family members and friends travelled to Buffalo for the draft.
He was cut by the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks at 16 and dropped to Tier II junior with the NAHL’s Bismarck Bobcats. A seventh-round OHL pick, 125th overall, he joined the Soo Greyhounds in December 2024 and was a first-round NHL selection eighteen months later.
His father moved him back to the blue line. Reid’s father RJ and brother Blake both played hockey.
READ MORE: Everything you need to know about Gavin McKenna
