Regina Pats trade scoring leader and captain Tanner Howe

After a year as the third-youngest captain in the Regina Pats’ history, Tanner Howe has been traded to the Calgary Hitmen.

“The most important thing for me to say is to thank Tanner Howe. It’s an important move for our franchise but very difficult when you are dealing with a very good player but a quality person like Tanner — our captain,” said Pats general manager Alan Millar. “I have tremendous respect for him — how he prepares, how he leads. I think the world of Tanner Howe as a young man.”

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Howe led the team with 28 goals and 49 assists last season and earned seven goals in 10 games so far this season.

Millar said it’s difficult to have that type of conversation with a player letting them know they have been traded but this one had more to it due to the timing of it. Howe was getting ready to play the Tri-City Americans on Wednesday night as a Pat but was pulled from the lineup just before game time.

“I apologized to him — I would have liked the process to be a little smoother but he handled it like a pro,” Millar said.

In the trade, the Pats got back 2007-born defenceman Reese Hamilton who’s from Whitewood, Sask., along with 2006-born forward Keets Fawcett from Grimshaw, Alta., a 2025 third-round draft pick, and a 2027 second-round pick.

“We got to the point where a player like Keets Fawcett was in the deal as an 18-year-old — he had a great rookie season and had 19 goals last year, plays hard and skates well, it helps soften the blow on taking Tanner Howe out of our lineup and keeps us somewhat competitive this year,” Millar said.

Hamilton won gold as an underager at the World U18 Championships in April, and won gold at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup in August. He’ll play for Team CHL at the 2024 CHL USA Prospects Challenge later this month.

“Players like (Hamilton) don’t usually come on the market at 17 years of age and we just felt with what we are doing here and the fit in terms of our blue-line going forward, we had to move forward and capitalize on the offer that was made and the situation with Hamilton being part of it,” Millar said.

Fawcett was sixth in scoring on the Hitmen last season and in the top 20 goal-scorers among players in his age group.

Millar said the trade came together pretty quickly.

“We had some conversations with Calgary (Wednesday) that Hamilton was going to be moved (that day). They had a priority on the deal we were talking about but made it clear to us if we decided to pass or move on, that he was going to be moved in another deal,” Millar said. “We had a deadline with Calgary at about 6:15 or 6:30 last night or they were going to move on. We decided to move forward.”

With this trade, the Pats now have 15 picks in the first three rounds of the 2025, 2026, and 2027 WHL Prospects Drafts – that includes five first-round picks, six second-round picks, and five third-round picks.