BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Florida Panthers selected Ryder Cali in the second round of the 2026 NHL Draft, 48th overall, adding a forward whose path to professional hockey began before he was born — in the womb of his mother, a professional hockey player competing in Switzerland.
Cali’s mother, Fiona McLeod, who competed in the NCAA and NWHL before playing professionally in Europe, was six months pregnant when she stopped playing in Switzerland. “I played pregnant with him for the first three months,” McLeod said. “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.”
Cali, born in Lugano, Switzerland, heard his name called at KeyBank Center in Buffalo and rushed to hug his mother in the stands. “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.”
His route to the Panthers was anything but conventional. At three years old, his father’s job moved the family to the Cayman Islands, where there was no ice to be found. Cali kept his love of hockey alive by playing roller hockey for four years just steps from the beach — earning him the nickname “The Cayman Kid.”
The family eventually relocated to Canada, McLeod’s home country, where she turned her playing career into coaching. Her son was her top pupil, and the investment paid off with a draft selection by the reigning back-to-back Stanley Cup champions in Sunrise.