Defense is currently a position that is undergoing a remarkable evolution. What was once thought of as a position where the objective was solely (outside of a few historical exceptions) to keep pucks out of the net with defensive actions has changed.

With the introduction and evolution of analytics within the sport over the last 20 years, and how readily available they’ve become to the public, a couple things have become abundantly clear:

• The best Defense is Puck Possession
• The most important zone is the Neutral Zone
• Rush Chances are more dangerous than Cycle Chances, and as a result,
• The ability to create and defend against zone entries is extremely important

The new age playdriving, #1 Defenseman not only has to defend well, but also has to be able to possess the puck and create chances through their own possession.
In this day and age, top defensemen are practically second centers on the ice.

It’s very similar to how the Rover position used to operate in the PCHA back in the 1910’s.

When we look at the best offensive defensemen in the NHL, who comes to mind?
Cale Makar, Quinn Hughes, Zach Werenski, Evan Bouchard? All 4 of those defensemen possess an incredible ability to possess the puck, create zone exits and entries, and when in the offensive zone, create high danger chances for themselves and their teammates.

Their Offensive IQ enables them to join the offense as either the primary puck carrier, or fill in as a temporary F2 or F3, allowing them to become a potential catch and shoot option off the rush.

They also make use of their defensive IQ to make aggressive (yet calculated) pinches to extend possession time, and unlike most defensemen, have no problem handling the puck below the circles and joining the cycle, allowing their teams to create man power advantages all around the Offensive Zone.

With that in mind, there is only one defenseman in the 2026 NHL Entry Draft that possesses the traits needed to be a top offensive defenseman, while also having the size needed to survive in the modern game. His name is Chase Reid.

Chase-ing Greatness

“Big, mobile defensemen who can play a lot of minutes and score like Reid are the foundational pieces of a championship roster.” – Corey Pronman, from The Athletic

In the 2024-25′ season, Chase Reid put up 7 goals and 33 assists for 40 points in 39 OHL games, which is remarkable for a defenseman in the D-1 season. Not only did he lead all Soo Greyhound defensemen in points, but he did so by a remarkable margin.
The next best point producing defenseman for the Greyhounds was 20-year old Caeden Carlisle who had 1 goal and 18 assists in 65 games.

Reid was tied for 20th in defenseman scoring, with Oliver Bonk, recent 1st round pick of the Philadelphia Flyers.

On a per-game basis, Reid was 6th in points per game, behind top prospects Zayne Parekh and Sam Dickinson, both in their D+1 seasons, Matthew Schaefer in his Draft Year, Henry Mews who most recently had 9 points in 10 games for the Uni. of Michigan before suffering a season ending injury, and Luca Marrelli in his D+1 season, who despite being a 3rd round selection in 2024 put up a respectable 16 points in 32 AHL games this past season.

What many people don’t know though, is before signing with the Greyhounds, who had drafted him in Round 7, 125th overall in the 2023 OHL Priority Selection Draft, Reid was a middling prospect struggling to produce and find playing time for the Bismarck Bobcats of the NAHL.

In 2023-24′, Reid played 10 games for the USHL’s Waterloo Black Hawks, putting up 0 points and recording a +1. Not what you want to see out of a prospect in their Draft – 2 Season. To compare, lets look at Keaton Verhoeff, another Top Prospect in the 2026 draft and see what his D-2 season production was.

2 points in 12 WHL games, and 27 points in 22 CSSHL U18 Games. Reid had 62 points in 68 16U AAA games. So not only was Verhoeff playing against older competition, but he was putting up better than point per game numbers while doing so. Meanwhile, Reid was ranked 18th in 16U with 0.91 points per game.

According to Michigan State University Associate Coach Jared DeMichiel, Chase Reid “was like the No. 4 on his NAHL team”

So to say this turnaround has been magnificent is an understatement. A lot of players would have been mentally destroyed by this kind of development path. Despite already being committed to MSU, his draft stock was dropping rapidly.

Through all of that, his confidence never waivered. This allowed him to not only jump to the OHL, but find his footing almost immediately. However, despite this confidence, he didn’t rest on it, and dedicated himself to the craft

“Reid’s development was aided by Greyhound’s defensive coach Brendan Taylor, with whom he worked closely. The rookie often asked for extra video sessions, eager to sharpen his game and expand his responsibilities.” – CHL.ca article by Breanna McNeill

Needless to say, this kid is hungry, driven, dedicated, and resilient. These are all innate traits that will carry him far, not only in Hockey, but life in general.

And we haven’t even gotten to his on-ice play yet.

Reid-y. Set. Go!

Let me make this clear off the bat:
There is still a level of rawness to Reid’s game. This is to be expected. Most elite offensive defensemen are smaller framed, which gives them a lower center of gravity, this letting them be more fluid in their skating and tighter on their edges.

Chase Reid however, is 6’2″ (6 foot 2.25 inches to be exact), and 195 pounds. This makes him 4 inches taller than Quinn Hughes, and 2.25 inches taller than Cale Makar. He is not going to be same type of skater as either of them.

However, for his size, his skating is great, and he uses it along with his innate ability to anticipate the game to excel in transition.

Let’s take a look at an example:

This play might seem a bit mundane, but it actually showcases Reid’s elite ability to anticipate while remaining committed to his defensive responsibilities.

When London throws the puck around the boards, Reid doesn’t feel compelled to follow the puck into the opposite corner, instead remaining in the slot, ready to defend against a potential attack by London, should they come out with the puck.
However, he doesn’t plant himself in the slot. He makes sure to keep some of his momentum, in case he needs to accelerate. He does this while staying true to his defensive responsibilities by cutting along the circle and back towards the far circle, and pushing back off towards the puck side.

At ~7 seconds in, he recognizes that #27 is going to come out with the puck. In order to give him an option, he uses the momentum he kept to accelerate below the goal line and behind the net, while also having his body faced towards where he wants to skate, rather than facing the pass. This gives #27 an option that is not only open, but has speed, which will allow Reid to accelerate away from pressure, which allows the Greyhounds to breakout much easier than if Reid had been flatfooted.

This momentum also plays a big part in evading the forechecker. Upon getting the puck, Reid begins to skate up the ice, keeping his head up to scan for any potential options up ice. However, the strong side winger and the center are both in between two separate layers of 2 London players. Any play to these two risks a turnover, with the best case scenario being a chip in.

With London #6 closing in on him, the momentum Reid built up on defense allows him to keep his distance. If Reid had been flatfooted, London #6 would have had a much easier time closing the gap, which may have allowed London to recover the puck before it exited.

With London backing up in their 1-2-2 structure, Reid finds his defensive partner, #6, who has pinched up to act as F3, with a direct, horizontal pass. His teammate then shoots the puck in deep.

Even though this isn’t a play that leads to any offensive scoring chance, it showcases how intelligent Reid is. He knows he can’t hit a homerun on this play, but he knows that he could force a low percentage play that doesn’t allow his team to make a full change, or worse, a turnover that results in a chance or goal against. He instead makes sure to get the puck to someone who can get the puck deep.

These are the types of plays that allows a team to transition effectively, which is a key component in preventing goals and chances against. Not only does it keep the puck out of the DZ, but it allows his team to line change, ensuring that his team doesn’t surrender goals as the result of being stuck on the ice for extended periods of time.

Let’s take a look at Reid’s breakouts:

On the first breakout pass, I’m equally as impressed with Reid’s ability to handle the slap by his defensive partner, while being amused by the contrast in how both of them decided to handle the play.

Reid upon receiving the puck, only has a short window in which he’s able to thread this pass. Not only does he time it perfectly, but he has the wherewithal to take a step up ice before releasing it. This allows him to ensure that his pass will be accurate, while also giving it a bit of extra velocity on its way to the receiver.

On the second play, he uses his Hockey IQ and backskating ability to allow the play up-ice to develop while short handed, while also drawing in a forechecker.

Erie is executing a 2-1-2 press in an attempt to recover the puck with the man advantage.

Because of Erie’s aggressiveness in wanting to recover the puck on the powerplay, this also leads the entire Otter Power Play unit to be drawn up ice, which allows Reid to fire a pass towards his two forwards up-ice, against Erie’s momentum.

When the Camera cuts back to the 2 on 1, you can see that the two backchecking Otter players were unable to turn against their momentum and accelerate back into the D Zone in time, allowing the Greyhound PK forwards to execute a beautiful 2 on 1 for a shorthanded goal.

In the Offensive Zone, Reid uses his combination of Skating and IQ to unleash his shot, a weapon in it’s own right.

The video above features 3 plays. Lets go over them one by one.

Play 1:
Reid displays exceptional offensive instincts, keeping his body open for a potential pass from the defenseman while building momentum and attacking the open space down his flank and towards the net, anticipating a potential man power advantage at the slot.
The rebound comes to Reid, who is being assisted by a Greyhound forward tying up his check in front, and releases a beautiful toe drag (to change the angle) wrist shot 5 hole.

Play 2:
Reid walks down his strong side flank and wires a wrist shot, that bounces wide.
While his linemate picks up the puck in the corner, Reid reloads up top, keeping his momentum instead of standing still.
Because of his momentum towards the net, and the shooting threat he is, this forces the Oshawa PK unit to back up in an attempt to give themselves more time to get into a shooting lane. Reid takes advantage of this by immediately wiring a cross ice pass to a linemate, who fumbles the pass. The teammate gives it to the high point man, who taps it over to Reid, who once again keeps his momentum by reloading up high.
Oshawa, due to the fact they’ve now had to switch their side of coverage twice in the span of 10 seconds, and that Reid has presented himself as a Shooting and Passing threat, collapse in an attempt to conserve energy and attempt to take away both options. Reid however is pretty set on shooting this puck. He takes two hard strides into and with the puck, and before the Oshawa PK’er can close the gap, wire a shot above the glove of the Oshawa goaltender.

Play 3:
This play displays Reid’s vision and IQ. In previous plays, we’ve seen Reid use his momentum as a threat to force defenses to commit to taking away one option. However, initially on this play, Reid is somewhat still. This is intentional.
Had Reid attacked down his flank, the pass he makes to the goal line through Flint’s Defensive Zone coverage would not have been available.
While his teammate fumbles this pass, Reid recognizes that Flint now has to collapse to defend against the goal line player. When Reid gets the puck back, he takes advantage of the space that has opened up in the high slot that has opened up, skates into the pass and wires a shot into the back of the net.

Reid’s shot demands the respect of defending teams, which allows other plays to open up for him, and he takes full advantage of that.

Here’s another play:

Reid’s ability to shoot draws in wingers and gets opposing defensemen to get caught puck watching in an attempt to block a shot or get out of the way of their goaltender’s line of sight. This lets his teammates to often bypass their checks for deflections like the one above.

Reid’s teammate fails to deflect the puck in, but this is a very high danger scoring chance that NHL teams attempt, especially in tight games. Scoring in those types of games requires a level of deception and creativity that Reid clearly possesses.

He’s not done, however. Upon getting the puck back, he keeps his hips open towards the middle of the ice and skates slowly down the wall. If his hips were closed, the opposing defense would be much more inclined to try and angle him off the puck and force a turnover. However, with his hips open, he is able to side step potential checks, scan the ice, and present himself as a potential threat. No defending player wants to be drawn to the perimeter only to get beaten, so they give Reid his space. This gives his teammate on the far side time to beat his check, and one clearly open, Reid fires a direct pass cross ice, and it ends up in the back of the net.

Reid is like a Field General Quarterback. Constantly scanning the ice, willing to take small yardage to survive, and because of that, he freezes opposing defenses to the point where he can make the long range, high danger pass.

NHL Ready? No.

With that said, Reid does have flaws that are eye popping, but I believe these are merely the consequences of a late (yet rapid) development, and the fact he plays in a development league.

If you recall my article on Caleb Malhotra, you might remember how I said that while Malhotra turned the puck over a lot, especially on the inside lane, that it was understandable, as he was trying to see how far he could stretch things. He wanted to see what his limit was, and in a developmental sense this is a good thing. I rather see a player try and reach his full potential rather than being terrified of making mistakes and keeping it safe.

On this play, Reid makes a solid play initially, taking the puck in stride, and entering the zone with enough speed to back off the London defense. However, he attempts to make a low percentage pass through both London defensemen, and when that is blocked, instead of rimming it low for the Greyhound forward in an attempt to maintain possession, he instead chips it cross ice and deep, where no one is. This is better than a turnover, but it’s a sign of a player who might still have some level of panic in his game when his initial idea doesn’t work.

On this play, Reid takes the puck behind the net and instead of chipping it up the half wall, he instead stops to try and side step the forechecker. This is easily snuffed out, which results in an attempted pass to the slot by London and an extended possession. This play may have been caused by his d partner cutting too far in towards the middle of the ice as opposed to being closer to the wall, but it’s once again evidence of a player that might struggle to adjust when things don’t develop as he anticipated.

Reid is also prone to making pinches that test the limits of his abilities. While I wouldn’t characterize any of his missed pinches as being egregious, I would say that in the NHL even the smallest opening can be exploited. On this play, when Reid pinches, he is not even within a stick’s length of the Niagara IceDogs player, and even with a puck fumble, is able to move the puck past Reid and to the middle of the ice.
While this results in an icing that brings the puck back, against a better, more structured team this could have resulted in a 2-on-2, or 3-on-2, with one of the Greyhound players back being a forward.

On this play, Reid foregoes the safe, possession extending play of chipping it low into space for his teammate in favour of attempting to side-step the winger and attack down the flank. Normally, Reid is able to create a chance out of a play like this. However, he failed to recognize that the Niagara winger had built momentum up towards the point by swinging up high when the initial low to high pass was executed. When Reid gets the puck, he has some momentum built, but far less than what the defending winger has built. Reid no longer has an advantage, yet tries to create a high danger chance.

When he loses the puck, he also falls, resulting in a delayed backcheck.

Once Reid is back in the defensive zone, he actually positions himself well. He’s a good defender on his side of center ice. He knows how plays are going to develop, and uses his gap control and general hockey IQ to win puck battles and shutdown plays. He was voted as the OHL’s 2nd best defensive defenseman for a reason. However, when he does get in trouble defensively, it’s because of his eagerness to create offensively or regain the puck for his team.

I would like to see him use his body more to actually wipe out players along the wall, but as it currently stands he uses his large frame to angle players off on the forecheck and zone entry, and has magnificent stick work and gap control. He needs to gain more confidence in his size in order to maximize his potential physically.

Wrap Up

“Everyone has a dream, just reach for the stars.” -Chase Reid.

Chase Reid possesses a combination of size, skating, shot, and hockey IQ that is hard to find in the NHL.

When reading reactions to potential draft picks, it stuns me that people fail to recognize the difference between leagues that prioritize development versus winning.

Stenberg in the SHL, plus McKenna and Verhoeff in the NCAA are prime examples. The SHL is a pro league. The NCAA is an amateur league, and are a developmental pipeline for the NHL, but they do not consider themselves to be a developmental league. Club teams have two objectives: Win, and make money.

That’s why it’s important to recognize the context of a player’s development within their respective environment. Does Reid make bad pinches, and is a bit too creative with the puck at times? Yes.

However, the OHL is the environment where that should be prioritized. When a player makes mistakes in the SHL or NCAA, the implications are completely different.
Is the player themselves still developing? Yes. However, their failures act against the overall clubs interests in achieving their primary objectives set by the league. That’s why I am less (not by a lot, but a little) considerate of someone like Verhoeff’s struggles as I would be if he was making these mistakes on the Victoria Royals, even though he is playing against men. This however, means that their successes deserve an equal adjustment in terms of the praise they receive when they succeed.

When Reid goes to Michigan State University, he is going to have a fantastic base skill set. He is going to be given ample opportunity, and although his mistakes will be less forgiving, as a player he will learn how to reign in his pinches, and become more of an all around threat who can rely on his teammates, rather than a player who feels the need to possess the puck for 27 minutes a night, and supply 60% of the teams transition and offensive output when he’s in the lineup.

I do think he’ll take two more seasons to come into his own fully.
If he does play in the 2027-28′ NHL season, I would expect some early growing pains.

To me, Reid is a top 3 talent in this draft. In my rankings, I had him ahead of Stenberg, but in a Pyramid Format, McKenna would be tier 1, but Reid and Stenberg would be tier 2.

If Reid is available at #3, with McKenna and Stenberg off the board, he would be my selection, personally. His IQ gives him a baseline that to me is that of a #3 defenseman, with the potential of being a #1 defenseman. I don’t think he’d be the type to win Norris Trophies, but he could definitely become a top 10 defenseman in the NHL, and his size will allow him to eventually play in all situations, especially if he becomes more confident in his physical abilities.

I believe he’ll be a constant 15 goal, 55-65 point defenseman. He reminds me a lot of Sergei Gonchar from an overall impact point of view.

I planned on putting this article out on Monday, but moved it up to today because truthfully, I’m having a lot of fun with this.

So Monday, or perhaps sooner, expect an article about Keaton Verhoeff.

My two articles after that will be about Carson Carels, and finally about who the Canucks should select at 24th, 33rd, and 41st overall.

Thanks for reading!