NHL Draft: The Incredible Story Of London's Jaxon Cover

While most elite hockey players start playing the game as soon as possible when they are tykes, Jaxon Cover is not your average story.

The London Knights left winger just played in the Connor McDavid OHL Top Prospects Game, and when all is said and done, he could go in the top 50 of the 2026 NHL draft. 

Oh, and he's only been playing hockey for five years.

Cover's tale so far is incredible. He was born in Florida but only lived there a month before his family relocated to the Cayman Islands, where he spent his entire childhood. His dad is in banking, while his mom works at a college. Cover's dad is also from Toronto, so he did learn to skate at the only rink in the Caymans, but the only hockey he played was roller hockey.

At 12, Cover and his older brother moved to Canada to attend St. Andrew's College, a prep school north of Toronto.

"I wasn't even playing ice hockey at that point," Cover said. "I was on the first soccer team. My second year at SAC, I picked up hockey and fell in love with it, so I stuck with it."

That decision turned out to be a pretty good one.

Cover's background in roller hockey was both a blessing and a curse. It gave him an approximate skill set for the ice game, but there are big differences between the two sports.

"Roller hockey is a much faster-paced game because there's no offside or icing," he said. "It's basically back-and-forth all the time. My first (ice hockey) tryout at 13, I didn't know what icing or offside was and I was always going offside. The coach had to teach me, it was pretty funny."

But Cover was a quick study and worked his way up the ranks at St. Andrew's, while also playing youth minor-league hockey in the area for Aurora and the York-Simcoe Express.

"Lev Katzin, who is at Penn State now, they were teammates on our U-16 team, and even though Jaxon was literally a beginner, the two of them had chemistry," said St. Andrew's coach, David Manning. "Jaxon was the only guy who could play with Lev, in terms of thinking ability. He's obviously got some raw talent from his roller hockey days in terms of puckhandling and puck skills, so a lot of it was just getting experience on ice skates."

In the meantime, Cover never gave up his roller hockey roots. Because he wasn't just good at roller hockey, he was really, really good – like, pro good. His teammates and competition were in their thirties.

"There's a tournament in California I always go to called NARCh, and last year, I played in the pro division," Cover said. "It was a pretty cool experience."

But needless to say, Cover's future is now on the ice.

His growth at St. Andrew's caught the eye of London, which selected him 64th overall in the 2024 OHL draft. Last year, he got into a few games with the Knights while spending the rest of the season full-time with the Saints' top squad.

"It was pretty surreal when I got called up the first time," he said. "I was pretty nervous, but the jitters left, and I felt pretty good out there. That's why I made the switch to London full-time, because I knew they could help me with my development a lot."

Thanks to a couple of blockbuster trades, Cover is officially London's top scorer right now with 29 points through 40 games. But it was that patented Knights system of learning from veterans that has made a lasting mark on the young left winger.

"We have great coaches and great players," Cover said. "Learning from (recently traded) Sam O'Reilly and Jared Woolley at the start of the year, they're two of the best. They're Memorial Cup winners and really good mentors. I learned a lot from them, especially their work ethic. And Mark and Dale (Hunter), they know how to win and they implement that every game."

Cover has also become a student of the game off the ice.

"As Mark says, 'If you want to be a hockey player, you gotta watch it.' I've taken that really seriously, and ever since I got to London, I've been watching a lot more hockey," Cover said. "I wear No. 87 because of Sidney Crosby – he was my favorite player when I first started watching. And I model my game after Tage Thompson. I'm not as tall as him, but I like to use my hands, and I'm trying to play more physical."

The most intriguing thing about Cover is how far he has come in such a short amount of time. Undoubtedly that is going to work in his favor when NHL scouts make their pitches to their GMs before draft day, and since Cover is in London, it's practically pre-ordained that he will make another big leap in development next season.

He has a very projectable 6-foot-1, 185-pound frame and he has already come so far.

"He's got a creative brain for sports in general," Manning said. "The big thing for Jaxon was finding consistency in the details of the game. Simple things like stopping and starting or re-engaging on a check. In roller hockey, you don't stop as easily, so he would get himself into bad ice. He just needed to learn how to play a more direct, simplified game, but it's a delicate balance when you have such a creative player.

"He's only scratching the surface. There's a lot to be excited about."

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