‘The Cayman Kid’: Ryder Cali’s unique path to becoming a Panthers draft pick

BUFFALO, N.Y. – Ryder Cali was born to be a hockey player.

Actually, he was a hockey player before he was even born.

Six months before Cali entered the world, his mother, Fiona Mcleod, was playing professional hockey in Switzerland.

“I played pregnant with him for the first three months,” said Mcleod, who competed in the NCAA and NWHL before her career took her to Europe. “He’ll tell you that he played some professional women’s games. He was in the womb. He started very early. We actually skate the same, and I tell him he got that from me.”

Nearly two decades later, Cali was hugging his mom in the stands at KeyBank Center in Buffalo after hearing his name called at the 2026 NHL Draft.

Achieving a lifelong dream, he was selected in the second round (48^th overall) by the Florida Panthers.

“It didn’t feel real for a second,” Cali said of being drafted by the two-time Stanley Cup champions. “I had to make sure they said my name. I knew when everyone else stood up that it was true. Florida is the best place to get drafted ever, so I couldn’t be more happy and excited.”

Born in Lugano, Switzerland, Cali’s journey to the draft is incredibly unique.

At three years old, his father’s job led the family to the Cayman Islands.

With no ice to be found, Cali kept his love of all things puck alive by playing roller hockey.

After four years of blading just a stone’s throw form the beach, the family then moved to Canada.

Back in her home country, Mcleod decided to turn her experience as a player into a career in coaching.

Of course, her son was her top pupil.

“If I had four hours on the ice, he had four hours as well,” Mcleod said. “It was all ages. He loved it. It was never a fight. He’d get angry if we had nothing to do on a certain night. He’d say, ‘Aw, no practice?’ It was just feeding him more hockey, feeding him more ice. He wanted it.”

For Cali, the transition from playing roller hockey in the Cayman Islands to ice hockey in Canada wasn’t without a few hiccups.

The biggest adjustment?

Finding the brakes.

“I couldn’t stop,” Cali chuckled. “Everyone was like, ‘Who’s this island boy that can’t stop?’ But I think I picked it up pretty quickly and was good from there.”

Not leaving the island life fully behind, Cali would often wear his old roller hockey jersey on the ice.

“He was known as the ‘Cayman Kid’ because he had a Cayman jersey,” Mcleod smiled.

Before long, the kid from the Caymans was carving out a new name for himself in Canada.

A late bloomer, Cali put himself on the map during a breakout season at the U-16 level with the Markham Majors of the GTHL.

Turning heads, the was then selected by the Soo Greyhounds with the 18^th overall pick in the 2024 OHL Priority Selection.

But rather than head to the OHL, Cali opted to sign with the OJHL’s Milton Menace, a decision that allowed him to play a prominent role with more ice time.

Making the right call, he went on to log 54 (24G, 30A) points in 51 games, which was one of the top recent seasons for a 16-year-old in the OJHL.

Building off that breakout, Cali shined throughout his first season in the OHL with North Bay in 2025-26.

Finishing sixth on the Battalion in scoring with 36 points (16G, 20A) in 47 games, he earned praise for both his production and aggressive playstyle.

“This was the best first year in the OHL I could’ve asked for,” said Cali, who became the highest-ever drafted from North Bay since the Battalion moved from Brampton in 2013. “It’s been pretty quick in terms of how things have escalated. The lots of games (in the OHL) helped me adjust quickly, go through ups and downs and bounce back. I think it was great. I loved every second of it.”

Standing 6-foot-2 and 218 pounds at just 17 years old, Cali, who entered the draft as the 25^th-ranked North American skater by NHL Central Scouting, has all the makings of a future Panther on paper.

Committed to playing a 200-foot game, he takes just as much pride in shutting down the opposition as he does scoring goals. And with plenty of time left to grow, it’s safe to say his ceiling isn’t even in sight at this point.

But what should excite fans the most is Cali’s attitude.

Echoing what we often hear from players like Matthew Tkachuk and Aleksander Barkov, being a good teammate is paramount if you want to be a Panther.

Harkening back to his earliest days playing hockey, Cali said it's something his mom made sure to instil in him.

“Treat everyone the same no matter what,” he said. “I think that’s something that helps a team win.”

Following in his mom’s footsteps, Cali plans to head to the NCAA ranks and play for Providence College next season.

Before that, however, he’ll head to the Sunshine State for his first development camp with the Panthers.

Excited to see a familiar face, his North Bay teammate, Shemar Moses, was a fifth-round pick of Florida in 2025.

“We were texting before this that I hope I went to Florida,” Cali said. “It’s pretty cool that it actually happened. “I’m fired up to get to see him again. Exited to be in Florida. That’s a destination spot for a lot of people in Ontario. It’s cool to have development camp there. Can’t wait to get on the ice.

Still in the early goings of a journey that he hopes will someday land him in the NHL, he’s officially now in the pipeline.

“I think the certainty is the best part,” Cali said of joining Florida’s ever-growing system. “You don’t really have to worry about external factors. You get to focus on yourself and getting better every day, and hopefully winning one day. It’s nice to have some certainly.”

For the "Cayman Kid," you can't ask for more than that.

“It was a passion for me, but now it’s turned into this,” Cali said. “It’s pretty crazy.”