2026 NHL Draft Profile: Ryder Cali

I swear I didn't do this on purpose, but I noticed after putting my list together that there's like a 75/25 split in the player's birthdays. 75% of them (rough guess) are relatively young for the draft, born in June to September. The other 25% are late 2007 birthdays from September to December. Completely accidental.

Anyways, Ryder Cali is another one. He's not only one of the very youngest players in the draft, but I've liked his game all year and he's one of if not THE favourite prospect to me. Between an early season injury that kept him out for two months from late October to late December, and low points on a low offense team, he didn't have a lot of hype for so much of this season. But now it seems almost certain he'll be a late first round/early second round pick which is well outside of Toronto's range and I'm mad. But I refuse to not write about him because maybe he does still go in the late second round or Toronto winds up with a late first/early second pick.

THE BASICS: STATS AND CONTEXT

• Position: Left-shot centre
• League(s): OHL
• Height: 6'2"
• Weight: 219 lbs
• Birthdate: Sep 6, 2008

Here are his draft rankings, as of writing this:

• TSN NHL Scout Poll: Not ranked
• Cam Robinson NHL Scout Poll: Not ranked
• Corey Pronman: Not ranked
• Will Scouch: 49th
• Elite Prospects: 32nd
• Scott Wheeler: 37th
• McKeen's Hockey: 31st
• Upside Hockey: 45th
• NHL Central Scouting: 25th (North American skaters)

Cali is a local(ish) Ontario boy from Penetanguishene, just north of Barrie. His September 6th birthday puts him only 10 days from not being eligible until next year's draft. Last season, he was playing in the GOJHL, his 54 points in 51 games was 40th in the league – but first among 16 year olds, and by a margin of 14 points. That looks great, but it's worth noting that most good 16 year olds spend their season mostly if not entirely in the OHL, where Cali only got a 5 game stint.

That makes this year the first full season that Cali spent in the OHL on a rebuilding North Bay team. Their best producer was a 19 year old who was drafted in the third round by Anaheim back in 2024, and he had 59 points in 65 games. Cali finished 6th on the team in total points with 36 in 47, but he also missed two months due to an injury near the start of the season. On a per-game basis, he finished 4th. Honestly I think if he didn't miss so much time and then have a re-adjustment period when he returned, he would have increased that rate by a healthy amount.

Cali really came on late. His points per game in the first 24 games of the season was 0.67, and it jumped to 0.87 in the final 23 games. His shot rate also increased from 2.21 to 2.80. This was in large part because he was playing better and getting more ice time in a bigger role. To start the season he was a middle six winger, by the end of the season he was a second line center taking 12 faceoffs per game and winning 54% of them. He was used in all situations, but not necessarily on the top unit for either the powerplay or penalty kill except at some times towards the end of the year.

Cali's season ended on a very strong note not just in terms of his production. He helped North Bay pull off a minor upset in the playoffs, beating the favoured Peterborough team in six games. They did get swept by the much better Brantford team, but that just meant Cali was then available to join Team Canada at the World U18s. He was used as a fourth line winger in each game, playing 12-15 minutes per game and had one assist in the five games he played.

THE GOOD: PHYSICALITY ON AND OFF-PUCK, TWO-WAY IMPACT, OFFENSIVE POTENTIAL

What stood out in Cali's game from the very start of this season was his physicality and how he used it to support his linemates both offensively and defensively. He's 6'2" and already over 200 lbs, and he definitely plays a power-forward style in a pro-ready way. He has the little-things-king feel to him when I watch him play – he is already very good at knowing how to establish position to win puck battles, and will use reverse hits to knock defenders down and give himself more time and space. He can be a terror to defenders in front of the net as they jostle for position, and even scarier on the forecheck as he bears down on the defensemen who know he's going to lay a heavy hit on them.

Despite being one of the youngest players in this draft, Cali plays a very mature game both physically but also mentally. He shows very good anticipation on defense to be a disruptor and harasser, which comes from his frequent scanning of the ice and attention to detail.

Which brings me to the next great thing about Cali: his never ending motor and work ethic. He is a high energy guy through every shift and every game, no matter what the score or situation. He is a dog on a bone chasing down pucks and puck carriers, and has a natural affinity for being effective on the cycle. The physicality and work ethic make it easy to project him to becoming an energy line guy in the bottom six of an NHL team.

However, Cali also shows promise in specific offensive ways that make me see a potential high value utility/supporting forward as well. Something in the Hyman or Knies mold, but probably not as high a level overall, barring a Knies-like leap in his development. He works hard in the high traffic areas down low, on the boards, and in front of the net. He also causes turnovers on the forecheck and while the other team is trying to break out of their own end. When he or a teammate has the puck, Cali is going to the net and I think shows some good projection for those net-front skills (deflections, rebounds, backdoor passes, etc). He shows a good sense for timing his routes to get to an open area around the net at the right time to accept a pass for a quick shot, and he has a good shot to be able to capitalize on his high danger chances like that.

Cali is also a very good skater. I wouldn't say elite, but he has a smooth and fluid stride, and enough explosiveness and speed to let his power game play up in junior. Beyond the basic north-south speed, his agility and lateral mobility help give him some elusiveness to weave through the neutral zone and get inside positioning on defenders. His skating, combined with his puck-protection skills, makes him a valuable contributor who can transition the puck either by making a clean short pass or by carrying it through the neutral zone himself.

THE FLAWS: INCONSISTENT PLAYMAKING, SKILL PROJECTION

A lot of the flaws Cali has have little to do with needing more physical growth, and more to do with him being a longer term project in terms of developing the level and consistency of his skill. He doesn't have a lot of flash or dynamic elements to his offense, which by itself is not a bad thing in my books. But even Knies or Hyman or any other top six-capable support winger has at least a certain kind of dynamic skill. Without it, their and Cali's upside would be limited to being more of a pure bottom six energy guy.

Multiple scouts I've read noted that he can be risk-averse with the puck, getting it off his stick almost as quickly as he can by making shorter, simpler passes instead of being able to break defenses down and create more high danger scoring chances. Some game reports also note his puck handling as being awkward and inconsistent when dealing with tighter checking. He can protect the puck, but doesn't have the skill (yet) to consistently create time and space for himself with dekes, feints, or skill plays like that. He does show some soft hands at times, like in front of the net, but isn't at a consistently high level when it comes to things like getting the puck off the boards and driving to the middle of the ice with it.

One thing I will say about Cali's skill is that, in my opinion, he was showing more high-level flashes of skill down the stretch. He's so young, was recovering from a not insignificant injury, and also adjusting to his first full season in the OHL. Even then, he's at a point even when he looked at his best where he wasn't quite able to execute his skill plays consistent enough to become a high level point producer. This inconsistency raises questions for his projection, if all he'll ever be is those occasional flashes but lacking the ability to consistently execute and needing to rely mostly on simple, bottom-six level plays.

OVERALL ASSESSMENT

The reason why I like Cali so much as a prospect is because he already has such a good foundation to build off of. You can call that foundation "safe", where he has the requisite tools and skills to easily become a bottom six checking line center or winger, kills penalties but never really has a lot of offense. But I'm excited about the flashes that increased in frequency and flashiness down the stretch, as he made multiple adjustments and was rewarded with bigger opportunities.

Cali showed a lot more confidence in that time. He would be more willing to drive with the puck, he could act as a one man transition driver carrying the puck, he pulled off higher end playmaking for his teammates, and was starting to create more and higher danger scoring chances to actually drive the offense instead of just supporting it.

If by some miracle Cali is available when Toronto has a pick and they do take him, he would make for a great project for their development team. We've seen Toronto take guys who already showed growth in their draft year and finished their seasons strong, and they take huge leaps in their development after. Knies, Minten, Cowan, and heck even Nansi this year to a lesser extent were all guys who looked like they had the brain and the tools, and just needed to start putting it all together. And then in their draft+1 season, wouldn't you know it started looking put together?

Here's an example where it all came together for Cali and he had a lovely highlight reel goal late in the regular season in March:

Thanks for reading!

I put a lot of work into my prospect articles here, both for the draft and Toronto's prospects. I do it as a fun hobby for me, and I'd probably do it in some capacity even if PPP completely ceased to exist. But if you like reading my work, some support would go a long way! I pay for a few streaming services (CHL, NCAA, USHL, the occasional TSN options for international tournaments that are broadcast) to be able to reliably watch these prospects in good quality streams. I also pay for some prospect-specific resources, such as tracking data and scouting reports from outlets like Elite Prospects, Future Considerations, McKeen's Hockey, The Athletic, and more.

Being able to get paid for this helps me dedicate more time and resources to it, rather than to second/third jobs. And whatever money I make here, a lot of I reinvest back into my prospect work through in those streaming and scouting services. Like I said, I'd be doing whatever I can afford for this anyway, so any financial help I get through this is greatly appreciated!