RD Chase Reid - Victory Honda, 15U AAA (2026 Draft)

Pavel Buchnevich

"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Dec 8, 2013
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I thought he was the best of the Americans at the U17 5 Nations. His skating is so important to how he plays. He's like a right-handed Luke Hughes in how he plays hockey. If you wanted a true comparison to a right-shot, there's not a ton of 6'0+ RHD that are more offensively-inclined and terrific skaters, but I'd probably say Kris Letang will be the best comparison. His skating is like a 70 or 75 on the 20-80 scale. It's not only straight ahead speed. His edges and back-skating are very good too. He can make so many offensive plays due to how well he skates. His puck game is also pretty good. The reason I compare him to Luke Hughes is that it's a good puck game, but it's not like an incredible puck game. He lacks that true elite puck game that someone like Makar has. If he had a Makar puck game, he would have a thread with 5 pages by now. His defensive game is a little bit of a work in progress. It's not a train-wreck, but I would say it's no better than adequate. He makes some mistakes with the puck and that hurts him defensively, but otherwise can do the defensive job. He also is already 6'0 for a player that is nearly 2008 born, so he's probably going to have no worse than NHL average size, and very possible better than that.

It's so early to know a draft range, but what I saw was a first round pick, and probably a very high one. But 2026 is so far away, so there are so many potential outcomes. I've watched the U17 Select team the USA sends to play in the 5 Nations tournament for the last three years, and he was the best prospect of the three years. I've yet to watch the NTDP defenseman for this age group, but I have a very hard time seeing there being more than 1 or at most 2 better than him, and there's a good chance he's better than all of them. This is one of the yearly players you wonder why he's not at the NTDP, although I had never heard of this guy previously and it's possible this isn't how well he normally plays and I'm completely wrong. I believe Waterloo has his USHL rights, and if that's the route he chooses, I suspect he's instantly in their lineup every game once eligible. He's only 15 though and the USHL doesn't allow players to play until they are 16, so he'll have to wait until December 30th.

 
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Pavel Buchnevich

"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Dec 8, 2013
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14 points in 9 games playing 16U. Second highest scoring defensemen, and he’s 1 point behind the leader having played 3 games less. He’s listed on the Waterloo roster for this season, so I’m guessing he joins them when he’s allowed to.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Dec 8, 2013
60,445
27,314
New York
Leading 16U defenseman scorer in the country with 31 points in 31 games. He’s also born December 30th, so he’s competing with players born January and February for that.

I hope when he turns 16 he’s playing USHL.
 
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IWillMakeTheNHL

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May 13, 2023
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Leading 16U defenseman scorer in the country with 31 points in 31 games. He’s also born December 30th, so he’s competing with players born January and February for that.

I hope when he turns 16 he’s playing USHL.
I’m pretty sure he is eligible to play in the Ushl right now because Gavin cornforth played in the Ushl in September of last year when he was still 15
 
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Pavel Buchnevich

"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Dec 8, 2013
60,445
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New York
I’m pretty sure he is eligible to play in the Ushl right now because Gavin cornforth played in the Ushl in September of last year when he was still 15
I can't find anything official or like a league rulebook, but virtually every google source I can find says it's an age 16 and up league.

There could be some special rules where you can finagle it. I remember Savoie was allowed to play WHL a season early because of how Edmonton was manipulating their roster.

The example I remember with this is that Tyler Dunbar was 15 his rookie year in the USHL until December. He managed to play two games before his birthday, and then as soon as he turned 16 he was in the lineup for the rest of the season.

It could be that you are allowed a certain number of games as a 15 year old or with certain roster specifications you can play 15 year olds. I'm talking in circles. A long way to say I'm not entirely sure.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Dec 8, 2013
60,445
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New York
He’s apparently “played” 10 games for Waterloo so far. I’ve seen two of them, and I didn’t see him take a shift.

He’s not registered anything on the stat sheet other than 1 “+” in those 10 games. I’d guess he’s played a few shifts total so far. Wish USHL gave TOI per game.

He should be playing a lot more. I get Waterloo has a good team, but he’d be one of their best players. There are a lot of 2007 born players in the USHL who are playing a regular shift. He’s probably better than all of them, except maybe some of the NTDP players and Boumedienne.
 

Hockeyville USA

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Dec 30, 2023
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I can't find anything official or like a league rulebook, but virtually every google source I can find says it's an age 16 and up league.

There could be some special rules where you can finagle it. I remember Savoie was allowed to play WHL a season early because of how Edmonton was manipulating their roster.

The example I remember with this is that Tyler Dunbar was 15 his rookie year in the USHL until December. He managed to play two games before his birthday, and then as soon as he turned 16 he was in the lineup for the rest of the season.

It could be that you are allowed a certain number of games as a 15 year old or with certain roster specifications you can play 15 year olds. I'm talking in circles. A long way to say I'm not entirely sure.
It's a birthyear league like all junior leagues. Chase Reid being an 07, despite being the youngest 2007 (December 30 birthday) could play in the USHL because of that. Despite being 15 at the start of the season.
 
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BKarchitect

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Oct 12, 2017
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Still time, especially since he's two days away from being an '08 and this looks a lot less like a stumbling point if that were the case...but Reid isn't even in the USHL right now, he's down with Bismarck in the NAHL and has a whopping 1 point in 9 games. Combined with his goose egg last year in 10 USHL games and he's having a bad time translating all that youth-level offensive skill up to juniors.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Dec 8, 2013
60,445
27,314
New York
Still time, especially since he's two days away from being an '08 and this looks a lot less like a stumbling point if that were the case...but Reid isn't even in the USHL right now, he's down with Bismarck in the NAHL and has a whopping 1 point in 9 games. Combined with his goose egg last year in 10 USHL games and he's having a bad time translating all that youth-level offensive skill up to juniors.
He must've heard you. 4+4 the next 8 games.

11th in U18 scoring for the NAHL, and the 10 ahead of him are older than him. Only 1 of those ahead of him is a 2026 eligible like him (and that guy is a forward). Third highest scoring U18 defenseman, and other two are 2025 eligibles.

Obviously scoring well enough to play USHL. No clue what Waterloo is waiting for.
 

Fischhaber

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Sep 3, 2014
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He must've heard you. 4+4 the next 8 games.

11th in U18 scoring for the NAHL, and the 10 ahead of him are older than him. Only 1 of those ahead of him is a 2026 eligible like him (and that guy is a forward). Third highest scoring U18 defenseman, and other two are 2025 eligibles.

Obviously scoring well enough to play USHL. No clue what Waterloo is waiting for.
Looks like he's headed to the Greyhounds. Certainly one of the top teams in the CHL at developing talent, so it's a great spot for him.
 

Corso

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Aug 13, 2018
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Waterloo was dumb. You snooze you lose. He should’ve been playing USHL last year. I understand why he lost patience and jumped ship. Hope he can get good ice time with Soo. Will probably still be able to head to MSU for 2026-27 anyway.

Are you certain he wanted to play for Waterloo? This may be a case of a player not satisfied by how he was handled the prior season and perhaps requested a move that was not honored.

Soo Greyhounds are a pretty legendary organization so development wise he should be fine.
 

jtechkid

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May 24, 2024
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Are you certain he wanted to play for Waterloo? This may be a case of a player not satisfied by how he was handled the prior season and perhaps requested a move that was not honored.

Soo Greyhounds are a pretty legendary organization so development wise he should be fine.
looks to me Waterloo didnt really play him or give him shifts over average older kids which is their right . However , most of these USHL teams never had real competition since they are only tier one league . I really think lot of these ushl teams are poorly run and just benifited for being a monopoly and that game is over . If you look at facilities , coaching , lot of CHL teams dramatically better than what ushl has to offer . Heck even brooks penticton couple others bchl teams are better than ushl structure . Ushl now actually has to compete that they have something to offer verse hey we are only tier one league
 

Corso

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Aug 13, 2018
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looks to me Waterloo didnt really play him or give him shifts over average older kids which is their right . However , most of these USHL teams never had real competition since they are only tier one league . I really think lot of these ushl teams are poorly run and just benifited for being a monopoly and that game is over . If you look at facilities , coaching , lot of CHL teams dramatically better than what ushl has to offer . Heck even brooks penticton couple others bchl teams are better than ushl structure . Ushl now actually has to compete that they have something to offer verse hey we are only tier one league

There are indeed some real dumpster orgs in the USHL but there are quite a few good ones as well. Of course you can say that about any league. The real difference between the USHL/CHL is that all three CHL leagues will actually enforce minimum standards (some may have to be shoved into doing so from time to time) whereas the USHL is more lax in holding ownership groups to account. Part of this stems from revenues as most USHL teams really don't bring that much money in and have trouble with expenditures.

I still feel that as a whole, the USHL will be fine in this new world we find ourselves in. They will not have the high-end talent as they recently enjoyed but will attract enough talent to make sure they stay relevant to the NCAA. They are not going the way of some lower Canadian junior hockey league.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Dec 8, 2013
60,445
27,314
New York
Are you certain he wanted to play for Waterloo? This may be a case of a player not satisfied by how he was handled the prior season and perhaps requested a move that was not honored.

Soo Greyhounds are a pretty legendary organization so development wise he should be fine.
He played for them in preseason, so at least through that point it seems like he did.

My theory is they didn't want two 2026 draft eligibles taking a regular shift on defense for a team that's trying to win. I like Nycz, but I would've chose Reid.
 

Hockeyville USA

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Dec 30, 2023
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Now listed at 6’2, by the way. Can’t believe him and Nycz and Henry Brzustewicz were left off the Hlinka team.



Reid played mostly minor hockey last year with Victory Honda, only a small junior sample size with Waterloo.

Brzustewicz wasn't great for London last year, but didn't play a ton, which is common for 16 year olds on the London Knights. Could be an anti-CHL bias there as well.
 

Pavel Buchnevich

"Pavel Buchnevich The Fake"
Dec 8, 2013
60,445
27,314
New York
Reid played mostly minor hockey last year with Victory Honda, only a small junior sample size with Waterloo.

Brzustewicz wasn't great for London last year, but didn't play a ton, which is common for 16 year olds on the London Knights. Could be an anti-CHL bias there as well.
But they selected plenty of players the same applies to.
 

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