Caton Ryan is a double overage entry in the 2026 NHL Draft, and he’s had one of the most interesting journeys to reach this point. He spent last year with Cornell, where he racked up accolades, but his path there wasn’t linear. 

Ryan is an Ottawa native, but was born in San Francisco and holds dual national team eligibility in both Canada and the US. He’s a left wing who shoots left and stands six-foot-one, 185 pounds. Ryan got his start playing for Ottawa Myers U14 AAA and joined the Carleton Place Canadians organization the next year. 

Carleton Place is in the CCHL, which is in Junior A along with leagues like the AJHL. When Ryan was first draft eligible back in 2024, this is the league he was playing in. Very few players are drafted straight out of the CCHL, even ones scoring 24 goals and 35 assists in 55 games. The next year, Ryan moved to the Penticton Vees of the BCHL, the year prior to them ascending to Major Junior. He continued to produce there, scoring 42 points in 44 games. 

All of this earned him a spot on Cornell’s roster for the 2025-26 campaign, where, again, he produced, notching 30 points in 34 games played. Importantly, 23 of those were at even strength. Ryan was the third-highest point scorer on the team while only playing 14 minutes a night. 

Offside News writer Cier Kang wrote a great breakdown of Ryan’s play, and it’s one of the only written analyses of him as he cracked the NHL Central Scouting LIst just this year at 177th. He also racked up awards in the ECAC, earning Rookie of the Week three times. Ryan’s got a strong shot and has excellent playmaking abilities, and at six-foot-one, he’s not a bad bet for an NHL team in the late rounds. However, I do think it’s more likely he goes undrafted and ends up as one of the top college free agents in a few years.