Sheng Peng
BUFFALO — Chase Reid has a go-to dance.
That makes sense, because his mom Magyn was a Laker Girl for a year.
The 6-foot-2 right-handed defenseman is a popular choice for the San Jose Sharks with the No. 2 pick of the 2026 Draft. The Sharks took the Michigan State commit out to dinner on Tuesday.
Reid spoke with San Jose Hockey Now on Thursday, sharing his go-to dance, his craziest Combine question (it was from the Montreal Canadiens), the most adversity that he’s gone through in his life, his friendship with Frank Nazar, and more.
On the craziest question he’s been asked so far at Combine…
The Montreal Canadiens had me throw a puck into a bucket. It’s a confidence test. That was by far the craziest thing so far.
I overshot it by a little bit. I tried to use the door as a backboard, didn’t go so well, kind of just died on the door. It wasn’t my best effort.
They said it was just a confidence thing, some guys go up right to the bucket and just drop it in. [It was] a confidence test, can we trust you in big moments?
I went all the way back. I went as far as I could back.
On the athleticism that he gets from his mom Magyn, who was a competitive dancer …
We definitely get the hard-working aspect from her. She moved away to California when she was 18, and she was professionally dancing out there, and then eventually became a Laker Girl for a year. She would dance for the Lakers for a year [maybe around 2004]. We definitely get the competitiveness, still stretch at home all the time. We get a lot from her.
On why his mom was only a Laker Girl for one year…
She wanted to come home and teach professionally. So she was a professional teacher when she got home, and then I came around, and my brother came around, and then she worked from home.
On how he is on the dance floor…
I can still do the Worm and the Coffee Grinder, but that’s all I bring to the table, as far as dance.
On his go-to move if the Canadiens had asked him to dance…
I’m doing the Worm.
On what song is making him bob his head now…
I’m a big rap guy, so I listen to a lot of NAV, love NAV. I used to listen to a lot of Pop Smoke back when I was young, but NAV is my guy right now. (The song) is called “Run It Up”, it’s my go to right now.
On what else he likes outside of hockey…
We golf. We love golf, and in our house we have a lot of fun doing that. Then obviously, we do things around the house for mom and stuff like that, but we really love to golf.
On who is the best golfer in his family…
My dad, he’s a scratch golfer. I have beat him one time my whole life, still trying to catch up on that second time. Last summer.
I played high school golf last summer, because when I came home, the high school coach asked me to play. So I shot two-under in the match that day, and then I went out there and beat him, I shot like two-under on 18 holes, or whatever. He wasn’t too happy, [and it] hasn’t happened again since.
On his dad playing hockey…
When he was young. He never really followed through with it. Played tennis and golf and hockey and those sports in high school, but never really played anything competitively. He played until he was 18, and he played beer league – he still plays today.
On humbling moments in his hockey career so far, like getting sent down from USHL Waterloo Black Hawks to NAHL Bismarck Bobcats, and what he gained from that experience…
It was definitely hard going into Waterloo and thinking I had a spot on that team, thinking I was going to go in and be their go-to guy, and stuff like that. But I went in, didn’t have my best training camp, thought maybe they’d give me another opportunity to showcase my skills and show them the player I truly was. Never ended up getting that opportunity.
Got sent down to Bismarck in the NAHL, played there for about a month and a half, and then eventually got the call from the Soo Greyhounds to go up there. But being sent down was definitely the most humbling moment that I’ve had, and it was the most adversity I’ve gone against in my life. So I think it did nothing but help me for what I’m in now.
On his U15 AAA head coach Kyle Lawson calling him out on his defense when he was 14…
He definitely let me do a little bit of what I wanted, but he definitely pulled back the reins a little bit on me as a player. It was all for the best. It really showed that you had to have added defensive element to your game that I didn’t have at the time. I’m glad he showed me early that you have to have that to be able to play at the highest level, so that definitely helped a ton.
On full circle, being ranked second in the most recent OHL Coaches Poll for best defensive defenseman…
I was told if I didn’t add the defensive side to my game, I was never going to be an NHL player. So I took that to heart and definitely worked on that as a main focus. It was an honor to be named that, and for people to finally notice that what I was doing was paying off, it was a big success for me.
On his biggest defensive improvement in the last season…
Just picking my spots a lot better, not joining the rush as much, making sure that I’m keeping pucks out of the back of my own net before I’m jumping on the wrong side of the play. Just making sure my plus-minus was plus all the time.
On who he models his game after…
Zach Werenski, I feel like we’ve got a lot in common.
On if Frank Nazar is the only NHL’er who he trains with…
He’s my main guy. We live five minutes from each other. We have the same agent, so I’ve known him for quite a bit now, but we just started getting close these last two years, leading up to the NHL Draft, he’s been a big support system for me.
On what Nazar has told him about the Draft process…
We talk every day. He just told me to live in the moment. It’s a lot, it’s going to be a lot. You got a lot of interviews and a lot of people to talk to, but you only get to do it once, so just embrace the moment and be in the present.
On how Nazar has challenged him to be better on the ice…
You can’t really have a dull moment against him out there, because if you’re off for one second, he’s taking advantage of it, which is how it is at the NHL level. So I take big, big accountability in what we do out there, and make sure that I try and stop him as many times as I can when he comes down on me.
Even skating with him last summer and seeing the speed he plays at, his IQ level, and the passes he makes every time around the tape. It motivated me to want to be better and just be like him.
On what he needs to improve to get to Nazar’s NHL level…
Definitely strength. He’s obviously a grown man, filled out, got big legs. So definitely getting stronger, putting on a little more weight to be able to move guys like him out of the front of the net, that will definitely help.
On dinner with the San Jose Sharks…
I had dinner with them on Tuesday. It was amazing. Sitting next to all of them, and talking to them, and they’re a great group of guys. It was a lot of fun. They felt very welcoming for me to have dinner with them, and yes, it was a blast.
I got surf and turf. We went to Hutch’s. It was really good.
On how exciting getting drafted by the San Jose Sharks would be…
I’ll be on another level, for sure. It’ll be a true honor, especially to wear the teal, white, and black. It’ll be something. Joe Thornton and all these guys you see come through there, it’d be a true honor to play there, and I’d love nothing more.
On what it means, with all his adversity, to potentially be the top defenseman drafted…
It’s a true honor, especially having the tough journey that I did, and being able to overcome the adversity that I overcame, and having a cool story behind the player, and being a good person behind the player, first and foremost. I can’t wait to hear my name get called.