Underdog Cole Tuminaro eyes NHL draft after injuries

Rockford native Cole Tuminaro isn’t among the top names in 2026 NHL Draft rankings, but his comeback from a shoulder injury has put him back on NHL teams’ radar. After going undrafted in 2025 and returning with added strength and a bigger role with the Chicago

Rockford native Cole Tuminaro has watched his name stay off the top of 2026 NHL Draft prospect lists—at least for now.

In those rankings, he isn’t sitting near the very top. Gavin McKenna and Chase Reid are ahead of him, and Tuminaro isn’t among the names that typically get the most attention in the earliest projections. But Tuminaro is also not ruling out the other outcome: getting drafted anyway.

“ If you would’ve told 10-year-old me, or even me last year, that I would be taking interviews with NHL teams, I would’ve been pretty excited,” Tuminaro said recently. “I certainly am now. It never gets old.”

Tuminaro is a 6-4 defensive defenseman who is projected as a fifth- to seventh-round pick as a 19-year-old this year after he went undrafted in 2025, his first year eligible.

The lack of attention last year wasn’t exactly a mystery. Tuminaro played almost the entire 2023-24 season with the USHL’s Sioux City Musketeers while dealing with a torn labrum in his shoulder. putting up six points in 42 games. Then his first game in 2024-25 came with another turn—his shoulder fully dislocated. and he required surgery that cost him the season.

When his body was finally ready to return, his path back wasn’t quick. Tuminaro added 10 pounds of muscle, and an invitation to Flyers development camp last summer helped put him back on NHL radar.

“It was a huge confidence-booster, honestly, to be able to compete at that level with a lot of top-end players,” he said. “To see all the work I did while I was rehabbing come to fruition, knowing it had paid off, was really special.”

That momentum carried into this season with the USHL’s Chicago Steel. Tuminaro became an important part of the Steel’s blue line during their last season in suburban Geneva. The team will move next season to the recently renamed Blackhawks Ice Center in Chicago.

In 54 games, Tuminaro finished with 16 points and 148 penalty minutes. Coaches and scouts have pointed to a clear shift in what he brought each night: toughness and physical presence, with puck retrievals, playmaking and decision-making improving in ways that had previously felt awkward.

“You miss [hockey] quite a bit when you’re not able to do it. so you really appreciate every game you’re able to suit up for and feel good. ” Tuminaro said. “[I maintained] a huge sense of gratitude and appreciation for every moment . . . and put it into perspective: Nothing you face is going to be as bad as that experience.”.

As the season progressed and the NHL interest grew, that attention also came with its own stress.

Tuminaro said he tried to stay focused on impact. He walked into arena lobbies after games and often saw groups of kids from the Rockford Hockey Club waiting to meet him or get his autograph. Those moments, he said, kept him motivated.

Tuminaro’s connection to Rockford hockey is close enough to be personal. His uncle, Jordan Tuminaro, is RHC’s president. Cole played for RHC for five years as a kid. Since the Steel’s season ended, he has been back in Rockford, helping coach RHC players and referee in-house games.

“My goal is to inspire kids in the next generation from Rockford to aspire to make it all the way, or to do something with their career and work as hard as they can,” Tuminaro said. “Hopefully we see more and more kids ascend to higher levels.”

The Rockford Hockey Club has grown considerably in its 52 years. Jordan Tuminaro said the club has expanded in part thanks to support from the Rockford IceHogs, the Hawks’ AHL affiliate. Where the RHC used to field one team at each age level, it now fields up to four. The club also recently received approval to create a standalone girls’ hockey program.

Having an alum drafted would be a major milestone. That hasn’t happened since 2006.

If Tuminaro eventually plays in the NHL—he still has a long way to go—he would become the first RHC alum (and only the second Rockford native) to do so.

“I think [Cole] will continue to be an ambassador for hockey in the city and hopefully help that next generation feel the excitement that the game brings. ” Jordan Tuminaro said. “It makes it real when you can see somebody who was in your shoes at [8 years old] and where they’re at now. It makes it [feel like] a real possibility.”.

Tuminaro will play college hockey at Cornell next season. Even so, the door to the NHL isn’t closed. Before then, it’s not out of the question he could be a late Hawks target. The Blackhawks know him well and have taken swings on tall defensemen in the sixth or seventh rounds of three consecutive drafts.

Illinois’ draft picture goes beyond Tuminaro. The highest-selected Illinois native in this year’s draft is expected to be Jack Hextall, a center from Rolling Meadows.

Hextall played for the USHL’s Youngstown Phantoms for the last two seasons and will be at Michigan State next season. He is projected as a late first-round or early second-round pick.

He hasn’t been a prolific offensive producer in his career so far, but Hextall is praised for playing a pro-style game with few flaws. He could be in the mix for the Hawks’ 34th and 37th overall picks.

“I always say I’m a 200-foot playmaker who can play on both sides of the puck and make plays in all three zones,” Hextall said. “I’ve always taken pride in being good on the defensive side.”

Hextall’s relation to famous ex-Flyers and Penguins general manager Ron Hextall is “distant,” but he still has family hockey ties. His dad, Cory, played for UIC’s short-lived Division I hockey program. His uncle Donevan was a 1991 Devils draft pick who played in the AHL.

Before Youngstown, Hextall played for essentially every elite youth program in Illinois at various points. He’s training at GVN Performance North Shore in Northbrook, focusing on improving his quickness and explosiveness while awaiting the draft.

Two other Chicago-area natives also made the NHL Central Scouting Service’s 2026 draft rankings: Kalder Varga, a forward from Geneva committed to Denver, and Lucas Zajic, a forward from Plainfield committed to Wisconsin.

Jonas Kemps—one of Tuminaro’s teammates on the Steel this season—also stands out. Kemps is a 6-6 Steel defensive stalwart who hopes to continue his own draft story. He initially played roller hockey growing up in Sonoma County, California, before taking to ice hockey.

In the 2025 draft. four Chicago-area natives were selected: forward Ryker Lee from Wilmette (by the Predators at 26th overall). forward Cole McKinney from Chicago (by the Sharks in the second round). defenseman Asher Barnett from Wilmette (by the Oilers in the fifth round). and defenseman Edison Engle from Arlington Heights (by the Jets in the sixth round).

For Tuminaro, the stakes are the same every year—except the path has been harder. He’s living proof that a comeback doesn’t just restore a player. It changes what they chase next.

Cole Tuminaro NHL Draft 2026 Rockford Hockey Club Chicago Steel Cornell hockey Flyers development camp shoulder surgery Jack Hextall Blackhawks draft prospects