The road taken to the 2026 NHL draft by left-winger Jaxon Cover of the OHL’s London Knights has been anything but typical. Cover was born in Aurora, Ontario but grew up in the Cayman Islands. During his youth, Cover was a professional inline hockey player, regarded as a superstar in the making in that sport. It wasn’t until he was 13 years of age when the suggestion arose that he take his considerable skills to the ice.
His first foray into hockey being at the U-14 level back in Ontario (his parents remain in the Caymans), merely four years later Cover now is nearly a point-per-game player in major junior hockey . Cover is projected as a 2nd/3rd round pick in this upcoming draft per the NHL’s central scouting bureau, and has been listed as first-rounder in some mock drafts. It does seem that every year an NHL team will use one of its high selections to draft a raw player with an incredibly high ceiling. Perhaps 2026 will be no different.