The 2026 National Hockey League Entry Draft takes place 26-27 June, and one of the prospects in the class is Caymanian Jaxon Cover.
Currently projected as a potential selection in either the first or second round, the 18-year-old left winger has drawn significant attention from NHL scouts, not only for his rapid development but also for his highly unconventional path to professional hockey.
Cover spent his childhood on Grand Cayman, which is devoid of an ice hockey rink. Instead, he developed his hockey skills starring on the roller hockey rink at the King’s Sports Centre.
It was not until the 2021–22 season, at the under-14 level, that Cover played his first organised season of ice hockey. Transitioning from wheels to steel blades required a massive adjustment, as he initially had to learn fundamental ice hockey rules, such as offsides and icings, alongside the mechanics of stopping on a traditional blade.
To bridge the gap, Cover attended summer hockey camps in Ontario, Canada and eventually moved to Canada for high school, attending St. Andrew’s College. His natural athleticism and the quick-area skills honed from roller hockey quickly translated.
Standing at 6-foot-1, Cover possesses high-end puck handling and lateral shiftiness that make him highly effective in one-on-one situations.
This past season, Cover made the leap to major junior hockey with the London Knights of the Ontario Hockey League. As a rookie, he led all London forwards in scoring, registering 20 goals and 32 assists for 52 points in 67 regular-season games.
His performance caught the eye of NHL executives during the recent NHL Scouting Combine, where his physical testing – including a fifth-place finish in the Wingate fitness test – confirmed his elite athletic upside.
As draft day nears, talent evaluators view Cover as a high-ceiling prospect who is only beginning to scratch the surface of his potential due to his late start on the ice.
While he has committed to playing collegiate hockey at Penn State for the 2027–28 season, his immediate future rests with the NHL franchise that calls his name this week, possibly as soon as the first round on Friday.
With a draft stock hovering between the late first round and the middle of the second round, teams with multiple selections in the first 50 picks of the draft, such as the Calgary Flames, or organisations picking early in the second round, like the Detroit Red Wings and Edmonton Oilers, are all possibilities for the talented player.
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