Chase De Leo

Lore & Background

De Leo was born in La Mirada, California, to parents John and Janie, who own a wholesale plumbing supply company. He originally played baseball but switched to roller hockey after his mother found baseball boring. He played roller hockey for the Orange County Blades before transitioning to ice hockey, initially as a goaltender for the Norwalk Knights. As a youth, he played for the Los Angeles Selects minor ice hockey team alongside Eric Comrie and competed in the 2008 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. Meeting Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg, and Patrick Roy inspired him to pursue ice hockey as a career.

De Leo played junior hockey for the Portland Winterhawks of the Western Hockey League (WHL) from 2011 to 2015, finishing with 251 points in 279 regular season games, including back-to-back 39-goal seasons. He was part of the Winterhawks' 2013 WHL championship team that advanced to the Memorial Cup final. After being drafted by the Jets, he spent most of his first professional season with the Manitoba Moose in the AHL, making his NHL debut on March 20, 2016, against the Anaheim Ducks. He played two games for the Jets that season and spent the next two seasons entirely with the Moose.

Reader's Guide

Chase De Leo's career illustrates the path of a player who consistently performed at the AHL level but found limited NHL opportunities. After being traded from the Jets to the Anaheim Ducks in 2018, he set career highs in goals (20) and points (55) with the San Diego Gulls in the 2018–19 season and later served as an alternate captain. He signed with the New Jersey Devils in 2021 and led the Utica Comets in scoring with 56 points in 55 games. Returning to the Ducks organization in 2022, he was named captain of the Gulls for the 2022–23 season. A knee injury in the 2023–24 preseason delayed his start, and he was placed on waivers in November 2023. In 2024, he signed with Barys Astana of the KHL but had his contract terminated after nine games as the team released expensive foreign players. He briefly joined the ZSC Lions of the National League, playing four games without points, before returning to North America. He signed an AHL contract with the Charlotte Checkers but was claimed off waivers by the Milwaukee Admirals in January 2025. De Leo also represented Team USA at the 2015 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships.

Did You Know?

• De Leo originally played baseball before switching to roller hockey because his mother found baseball boring.
• He began his ice hockey career as a goaltender for the Norwalk Knights before switching positions.
• He was a teammate of Eric Comrie on the Los Angeles Selects minor ice hockey team.
• De Leo was named captain of the San Diego Gulls for the 2022–23 season.