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The WHL’s trade deadline arrives Tuesday and some around the hockey world will be keeping a close eye on the Regina Pats.
Some will be interested to see if the Pats end up pulling the trigger and trading Connor Bedard away for a king’s ransom, but head coach-general manager John Paddock has said on multiple occasions that won’t be happening.
With a Bedard deal essentially ruled out, Paddock says the Pats will be looking at adding an extra piece or two.
Paddock made two deals in the last week in the lead-up to Tuesday’s trade deadline.
The first trade was sending goaltender Matthew Kieper to the Kamloops Blazers on Jan. 3 in exchange for a fourth-round pick in the 2023 draft and a sixth-round pick in 2025.
Then, on Sunday, Regina traded forward Easton Armstrong to the Winnipeg Ice for defenceman Omen Harmacy.
Speaking late last week, Paddock said he doesn’t expect the Pats to do anything significant before the deadline.
“I think any trade is significant, but I think if we could add something depth-wise for our team to fill a role or specialty part, I’d like to do that,” he stated.
Paddock says the Pats are already in a way adding some pieces which they don’t have to bother trading for.
“The biggest thing for me is that we haven’t had our top six forwards together all year. I’m looking forward to having Bedard, (Tanner) Howe, (Borya) Valis, (Tye) Spencer, (Alexander) Suzdalev and (Zack) Stringer all together in the lineup,” Paddock said.
“A lot of times, we’ve only had three of them, so we aren’t tampering with that part of it. So we’ll see if we could add something.”
The Pats definitely felt the impact of Bedard returning to the lineup on Sunday — the first time in almost a month the WHL’s leading scorer suited up for them.
Bedard lit up the Calgary Hitman for six points (four goals and two assists) in his first game back from the world junior championship, where he broke numerous scoring records for Canada to help it win the gold medal. He also was named the tournament’s most valuable player.
Over the Christmas break, Paddock spent some time scouting a tournament in Manitoba, along with other WHL scouts and GMs from around the league.
He says discussions between other GMs at those tournaments helped create some of the deals fans will see at this year’s deadline.
“(Those tournaments) are when us general managers are in touch with each other. You talk to some more than others, but for every 400 or 500 calls, you might get a deal when you talk over the course of the year,” he said.
“Everybody’s tuned into this time for one reason or another and it’ll just get busier here.”
The Pats’ next game is scheduled for Friday in Regina against the Saskatoon Blades.
