Kraken 1st Rounder Overcame Huge Odds

BUFFALO, New York – Standing on the podium here Friday night as a newly minted No. 7 overall draft pick was the last place Kraken first rounder Chase Reid expected to be just two short years ago. 

The first ever defenseman chosen by the Kraken in the opening round of the Upper Deck NHL Draft was playing Tier II junior hockey in Bismark, North Dakota at age 16 after barely seeing the ice in the higher level USHL and then being dropped outright. Fortunately, Reid, 18, had been a late, seventh round selection in the Ontario Hockey League draft the prior spring and then some NCAA rule changes allowed him to keep future college eligibility while joining major junior hockey’s Soo Greyhounds and altering his destiny. 

“I thought it probably wasn’t going to happen,” the 6-foot-3, 195-pound right-handed shot defender said of being drafted into the NHL after such a sputtering start. “But I knew that I was going to work my hardest each and every day to get to where I wanted to be.” ​

That he did, overhauling the defensive side of his game and becoming an elite two-way defender that once had many labeling him the best blueliner in this year’s draft and a potential Top 3 selection. He scored 18 goals and added 30 assists in 45 contests for the Greyhounds last season, which was the highest points per game total by a defenseman in the entire OHL.  

The opening two selections at the annual Upper Deck NHL Draft went exactly as everyone predicted, with Penn State winger Gavin McKenna going first overall to the Toronto Maple Leafs and Swedish Hockey League forward Ivar Sternberg taken at No. 2 by the San Jose Sharks. Vancouver picked Caleb Malhotra at No. 3, which surprised some who’d felt the Canucks might shy away from having him on a team where his father, Manny Malhotra, is now the squad’s head coach.  

After that, three straight defensemen were chosen as Buffalo took Daxon Rudolph, the New York Rangers snagged Alberts Smits and the Calgary Flames took Carson Carels at No. 6. The Kraken were thrilled to see Reid still on the board, while about 60 of his family members and friends in the stands at KeyBank Center arena were ecstatic when the pick was made. They’d made the trek here in various caravans from his Chesterfield, Michigan hometown and surrounding environs, erupting with the loudest cheers of the night for any first round pick to that point -- topping even hometown Sabres fan reactions to Buffalo’s No. 4 selection of Rudolph. 

“Right when you walk in (to the arena) you could hear them hooting and hollering up there,” Reid said. “And then especially when you get picked, you hear them all yelling again.” 

From there, it was a whirlwind night of photos, media interviews and celebration for a youngster who’d often wondered whether this night would even happen. He’d spent some lonely nights gut-checking himself while living alone in his mid-teens in North Dakota and trying to prove he belonged somewhere better than the Tier II North American Hockey League.

He talked Friday about how it “humbled me as a person and a player” and caused him to revisit his relationship with God, which helped him overcome any loneliness and sense of failure and learn to believe in himself when few in hockey seemingly would.  

Among the few believers, his father, RJ, and his mother, Magyn, who’d scrambled to find their son a Tier II junior hockey home in North Dakota and then navigated NCAA and OHL politics to get him to the Greyhounds. Reid is now committed to play at Michigan State this fall, a college path the entire family wanted and that would not have been possible under prior rules barring major junior players from NCAA eligibility. 

When the rules changed two years ago, his parents jumped on calls with Michigan State and the Greyhounds just to ensure his eligibility would not be impacted by OHL play. The Greyhounds had an opening and wanted Reid to jump rosters mid-season and the family was willing once given assurances the college dream would remain intact. 

In all, Reid wound up playing just 18 games in Tier II, notching an impressive six goals and six assists as his game began kicking back into gear. But when he arrived in the OHL, everything took off. 

“They were very welcoming,” his mother said. “They gave him an opportunity to just do Chase.” 

And “doing Chase” meant getting the defensive side of his game in-tune with his high-octane offense. The family wonders whether his USHL team, the Waterloo Black Hawks, didn’t see enough defense from Reid in training camp and then a 10-game audition in which he barely left the bench. 

Reid was also much younger than the rest of the players on a Waterloo team with championship aspirations. But no one really told Reid why he wasn’t playing. 

“There was no feedback,” his mother said. “It’s hard to get better when you don’t get any feedback.”

His father is impressed by how composed his son stayed throughout an ordeal that would have discouraged many players from continuing in hockey.  

“He never stopped working hard,” he said. “At one point he was eating like two pounds of beef a day just to get bigger and stronger so he could do what he wanted to do on the ice.” 

His parents are grateful to the Bismarck Tier II team for giving their son a chance to play hockey while they waited for the rumored change to the NCAA rules that eventually happened and enabled OHL play. And to the Greyhounds for being so receptive and providing a new home for their son. 

But it wasn’t easy on anyone, them included. 

“It was a very stressful time for us,” his father said. “I mean, your son is 15 and then 16 and he’s living away from home. I have a job and my wife has one as well and we can’t just jump up and leave and go see him. On its own that would have been a lot. But then you throw in all that other stuff, and it took a lot out of us.” 

But getting drafted by the Kraken offset a lot of it instantly. They now know it was all worth it. 

“It’s a very inspiring story for kids who don’t think they have what it takes,” his mother said. “You just have to work through it. And it’s hard.” 

Now, he gets to play in a Kraken organization that includes Blake Fiddler, a defenseman drafted in the second round a year ago. Reid and Fiddler were roommates last winter when trying out for the Team USA squad for the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships.  

One of the “kids” already inspired by Reid’s hockey story is own younger brother, Blake, 14, who plays AAA-level hockey in Michigan. Up on the podium, his Kraken-drafted brother mentioned Blake, who joined his parents at Friday’s draft, as one of the reasons he wanted to keep pushing forward in hockey with the Tier II squad. 

Just having the opportunity and then with my parents and brother at home, I wanted to do it for them and make them proud,” he said. “So, it gave me all the more reason to go out there and one, prove Waterloo wrong. And then, obviously go shoot for the stars and accomplish my dreams.”