Regina Pats add 20-year-old, strike deal with Raiders ahead of weekend road trip

The Regina Pats are adding a couple of players to the team following its weekend pause due to COVID-19 — something spreading throughout the league.

Forward Logan Linklater, 18, was traded to Regina from the Prince Albert Raiders Monday in exchange for a conditional eighth-round pick in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft.

Veteran 20-year-old defenceman Neithan Salame was claimed off waivers from the Brandon Wheat Kings moments earlier Monday morning.

Pats coach and general manager John Paddock was pleased to add the duo ahead of a weekend road trip to Manitoba.

“We are happy to add a real solid defenceman and a high-quality character player to our team,” Paddock said.

Salame appeared in two games this season for the Wheat Kings before he was dealt to the Victoria Royals in October 2021. Salame has played in 149 games, totalling 32 points in that time.

Linklater played in 26 games with the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League’s Kindersley Klippers this season, scoring eight goals and adding six assists for 14 points.

He played in 22 games with the Raiders last season. He was drafted in the sixth round by the Raiders in the 2018 WHL Bantam Draft.

“We saw him in the Hub last year and liked what we saw,” Paddock said of Linklater in a club media release. “It’s a chance to add some depth to our forward group.”

Regina was forced to briefly pause its team activities last week due to COVID surging across the league. The Pats and 14 other WHL teams were paused, “as a result of multiple players and staff being added to the WHL COVID-19 Protocol List due to exhibiting symptoms or having tested positive for COVID-19,” the league said in a news release on Saturday.

The league also postponed the Pats home game against the Calgary Hitmen originally scheduled for Tuesday.

The next day, the Moose Jaw Warriors, the Pats and Tri-City Americans were allowed to resume team activities, but Tuesday’s game remained postponed.

Regina is scheduled to play its next game Friday in Winnipeg against the Ice as part of a weekend doubleheader in the Manitoba capital.