The Vancouver Canucks have spent the last year reshaping their blue line, and the latest move might be the most important one yet. With the third overall pick in the 2026 NHL Draft, they grabbed Sault Ste. Marie defenseman Chase Reid, a selection that gives the organization a real cornerstone to build around on the back end.
Reid arrives with plenty of attention attached to his name. He was ranked No. 1 in Corey Pronman’s prospect list at The Athletic heading into the draft, and the obvious comparison in Vancouver is Quinn Hughes, whose trade to the Minnesota Wild last December helped trigger this rework of the defense.
But Reid is not Hughes. He’s his own kind of player, and that’s what makes this pairing idea so intriguing.
At 6-foot-2 and 190 pounds, Reid brings a different look than Hughes ever did in Vancouver. Hughes was a 5-foot-10, 180-pound left shot whose game lived on the edges and leaned on playmaking. Reid, meanwhile, is a right shot with a heavy release from the point and the kind of offensive toolkit that can change a power play in a hurry.
Pronman’s evaluation made the ceiling pretty clear: “Reid is a talented defenseman with a lot of offensive tools,” Pronman wrote in his rankings. “He has the speed, hands, vision and shot to generate chances and be a leading scorer for an NHL team.
Reid can create in transition and off the blue line with his feet, creativity, showing high-end improvisation skills. Reid isn’t overly physical, but he works hard enough and makes plenty of stops due to his reach, feet and compete level even while playing an aggressive style of play offensively.
He projects as a major minutes NHL defenseman who can run a first power play.”
The fit on Vancouver’s roster is easy to see. Filip Hronek, Tom Willander and Victor Mancini are already on the right side of the defense, but Reid gives the Canucks another high-end option with a much higher offensive ceiling.
There is a delay before he can jump in, though. Reid is committed to play at Michigan State University next winter, so he won’t help immediately. Still, his game looks built for the professional level, and his track record with the Soo Greyhounds backs that up.
Over the last two seasons, Reid has done plenty of damage in Sault Ste. Marie.
He posted seven goals and 40 points in his rookie season in 2024-25, then followed it up with 18 goals and 48 points in 45 games last season. He also chipped in two goals and four points in five games at the World Juniors Championships last December.
The Canucks also have Zeev Buium in the mix, and that’s where this starts to look like a real long-term plan. Buium managed six goals and 26 points in his first pro season, and his minus-33 rating won’t jump off the page for the right reasons. But that number may not tell the whole story, with Adam Foote’s broken system part of the equation and the rest coming from a 20-year-old adjusting to NHL life.
If Buium’s creativity translates the way Vancouver hopes, he and Reid could end up as the club’s top defensive pairing for years. It may not reach the level Quinn Hughes set in Vancouver, but after the trade and the draft, the Canucks are at least pointing the blue line in the right direction.
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