Jalen Chatfield

Jalen Chatfield is an American professional ice hockey defenseman for the Carolina Hurricanes of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously played for the Vancouver Canucks. Born on May 15, 1996, in Ypsilanti, Michigan, to Scott and Tomara, Chatfield is biracial, with a white father and black mother. Though his father played basketball and his sister played soccer, he grew up biking, rollerblading, skateboarding, and playing baseball. He was a Detroit Red Wings fan as a kid, especially admiring Nicklas Lidström.

Chatfield started organized hockey with the Compuware Triple-A Under-13 team in Michigan. He then played two seasons with the Belle Tire Midget Major U18 team, recording three goals and 18 assists in his first season and 11 goals and 15 assists in his second, earning praise as an elite skating defenseman with good puck skills. He initially committed to the Madison Capitols of the USHL but instead signed with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League for the 2014–15 season. In his rookie OHL season, he scored his first goal in his 53rd game and won the team’s Most Improved Player award. He attended the Detroit Red Wings development camp that summer but was returned to Windsor. The next season, he doubled his goal total in the first four games, was named Player of the Week in November 2015 after two goals and four assists in three games, and finished with eight goals and 33 points in half a season. He also attended the San Jose Sharks rookie camp and training camp but was sent back to the Spitfires.

In his final OHL season, 2016–17, Chatfield ranked third among Spitfires defensemen with 28 points (eight goals, 20 assists) and tied for second-best penalty killer in the Western Conference. On March 1, 2017, he was named co-captain of the Spitfires alongside Jeremiah Addison. A few days later, he signed an entry-level contract with the Vancouver Canucks.

Chatfield began his professional career with the Canucks’ AHL affiliate, the Utica Comets, in 2017–18. He recorded his first professional point—an assist on Carter Bancks’ goal—on November 18, 2017, against the Hartford Wolf Pack, and his first AHL goal on March 31, 2018, in a 6–5 win over the Springfield Thunderbirds. He scored only two goals that season. After being cut from Canucks training camp in 2018–19, he was reassigned to the Comets.