Chase Reid has made a splash in his first full season with the Soo Greyhounds in the Ontario Hockey League and his coming out party couldn\u2019t have come at a better time.<\/p>\n
The 6-foot-2, right-shot defenceman joined the Greyhounds in December of 2024 after struggling to get in the lineup for the United Stats Hockey League\u2019s Waterloo Black Hawks.<\/p>\n
Reid proceeded to register seven goals and 40 points in 45 games for in Sault Ste. Marie and then added another three assists in five playoff games. This year, he continued his pace with the Greyhounds, registering 18 goals and 48 points in 45 games.<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce the rule got changed where you could go from the Canadian Hockey League to college, it was pretty much no-brainer when [the Soo] gave me the call,\u201d Reid told TSN prior to the start of the playoffs. \u201cI\u2019d definitely say coming to the CHL was the biggest improvement and blessing that I\u2019ve had. You get 4,000 or 5,000 fans a night and they\u2019re always there for you when you need them. [Sault Ste. Marie] is a great hockey city and I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Greyhounds originally drafted Reid in the seventh round (125th overall) in the 2023 OHL Draft without an idea of whether he\u2019d ever play the team. When the NCAA changed their eligibility rules to allow CHL players to come to their schools in November of 2024, it gave young American players another avenue to develop their game before going to college.<\/p>\n
Reid has committed to play for Michigan State University for the 2027-28 campaign and admitted that the rule change was a key factor in joining the Greyhounds.<\/p>\n
\u201cGrowing up in the United States, it\u2019s every kid\u2019s dream to go to school and get that commitment out there and things like that,\u201d said Reid.<\/p>\n
Coming from Chesterfield, Mich., Reid didn\u2019t have to adjust too much to playing in Canada with his home being relatively close to the border. The 18-year-old grew up as a Detroit Red Wings fan, naming Niklas Kronwall as one of his favourite players growing up.<\/p>\n
However, it is another Michigan product and current Columbus Blue Jacket that Reid models his game off of and tries to emulate on the ice.<\/p>\n
\u201c[I would compare myself to] Zach Werenski,\u201d Reid said. \u201cObviously, he\u2019s still way better than I am but I feel like we both have pretty good skating. His IQ with and without the puck, his defence, his stick work, the way he transitions in the neutral zone, his breakouts, and just all around. I think we have a lot of the same comparables and hopefully I want to be as good as him one day.\u201d<\/p>\n
One of the things that motivated Reid early in the season was his push to gain a spot on the United States\u2019 roster for the 2026 World Juniors in Minnesota. Reid wasn\u2019t invited to the U.S.\u2019s Summer Showcase and used it as motivation early on to make the team.<\/p>\n
Reid joined a United States squad that won back-to-back gold medals at the World Juniors and were looking to three-peat on home soil in Minnesota. However, the United States fell to Finland in a heartbreaking 4-3 overtime quarter-final loss to finish in fifth place.<\/p>\n
Despite the loss, Reid took pride in representing his country on the international stage and enjoyed the moment.<\/p>\n
\u201cFalling for of the [gold medal] goal is pretty devastating and [it feels like you\u2019re] letting your country down,\u201d said Reid. \u201c[But] just being able to put on that USA jersey every day, it\u2019s a privilege and an honour, which you don\u2019t get to do every day. I took big responsibility and ownership of that and hopefully we\u2019ll be able to do it way better next year, but we\u2019ll cross that bridge when we get there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another aspect of this season that is driving Reid is that he is eligible for the 2026 NHL Draft in Buffalo in June. He is projected to be selected high in the draft with TSN Director of Scout Craig Button<\/a> slating him in at No. 3 on his list and some prognosticators, like Corey Pronman of The Athletic<\/a>, placing him at No. 1.<\/p>\n As part of his draft season, he was one of 22 draft eligible players across the three major junior leagues to make Team CHL for the CHL USA Prospects Challenge where he took on the U.S. National Under-18 Team.<\/p>\n As an American, going up against his countrymen was a bit awkward, but Reid was honoured to be selected to represent the CHL on one of the biggest stages of the major junior season.<\/p>\n \u201cGoing out there and playing against your own country, you got to be careful with what you say for sure,\u201d said Reid. \u201cYou obviously want to go out there and prove that the CHL is better than the U.S. team, but you got to keep some things to yourself because obviously I\u2019m an American and I love to wear that jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n Reid is trying not to let the pressures of his draft season affect his game on the ice as he wants to control what he can control and not worry about the extra eyes that are on him this year.<\/p>\n While he\u2019s asked his agent and Greyhounds captain Brady Martin \u2013 who was drafted fifth overall by the Nashville Predators last year \u2013 for advice about what to expect in this type of year, he feels as though he doesn\u2019t want the noise about his draft status to dictate his game.<\/p>\n \u201cYou obviously want to be the best of the best, and to be the best of the best, you\u2019ve got to work as hard as you can each and every day,\u201d said Reid. \u201cI try to stay away [from the rankings]. Obviously, if you\u2019re scrolling on Instagram, you get the occasional ranking that you see but I try to stay away from it and just focus on what I can control, which is my game and who I am as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n Reid\u2019s Greyhounds finished this season with a 39-23-6 record to land the No. 5 seed in the OHL\u2019s Western Conference. They\u2019re taking on the London Knights in the first round, who look very different than the team that won back-to-back J. Ross Robertson Cups in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n London only has seven players from last year\u2019s Memorial Cup winning team back in this year\u2019s playoffs but finished one point ahead of the Greyhounds for home ice advantage in the first round.<\/p>\n The Greyhounds won the first two games on the road and are heading back to Sault Ste. Marie for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d say we can beat them and we can sweep them for sure,\u201d Reid said. \u201cI feel like if we go out there and play our game, we\u2019ll be just fine. If we go out and make sure we do all the little things right and work hard on them, I feel like as long as we out compete them, our skill will take over.\u201d<\/p>\n Reid and the Greyhounds have the goal of becoming OHL Champions and winning a Memorial Cup for the city of Sault Ste. Marie. He relishes the idea of bringing those trophies back to his adopted communities and to celebrate them for years to come.<\/p>\n However, he also recognizes that there is stiff competition around the OHL, including teams that finished with a better record than the Greyhounds.<\/p>\n Despite that, Reid believes that his team can stack up with anyone around the league on any given day.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we\u2019re at our best, and even when we\u2019re not out our best, I feel like we can compete with anyone each and every night,\u201d said Reid. \u201cAs long as we play as a team and work as hard as we do each and every night we\u2019ll come away with a win no problem.<\/p>\n \u201c[The idea of] being able to put on the Greyhound jersey and walk around the city for a parade, that\u2019s something I\u2019d never forget. I made some great friendships and brothers for life out here. I feel everyone pushing up, pulling on the same rope. [But I hope] I can come back in 10 years time for a banquet and talk about all the good times and things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Stories<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chase Reid has made a splash in his first full season with the Soo Greyhounds in the Ontario…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":409139,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[462],"tags":[4759,5,4,465,466,61295],"class_list":{"0":"post-532866","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl-draft","8":"tag-apple-news","9":"tag-hockey","10":"tag-nhl","11":"tag-nhl-draft","12":"tag-nhl-entry-draft","13":"tag-sault-ste-marie-greyhounds-sports-hockey-team-team-league-stat-16"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116324110882834667","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532866","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=532866"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/532866\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/409139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=532866"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=532866"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=532866"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}