Pats make one deal at WHL trade deadline, Bedard stays put

After a quiet WHL trade deadline day for the Regina Pats, the team’s best player is staying put.

Pats general manager John Paddock said that once it became clear the team had no plans to move Connor Bedard, there were virtually no calls about the availability of the 17-year-old phenom.

In the WHL, there were a few major trades made over the past week, including a monster deal between the Kamloops Blazers and Everett Silvertips.

Kamloops received Olen Zellweger and Ryan Hofer while Everett received Drew Englot, Kaden Hammell, Rylan Pearce, Jack Bakker, four first-round picks (2023 through ’26), a 2023 second-round pick, a 2026 conditional second-round pick, a 2023 fourth-round pick, a 2024 fifth-round pick, a 2025 third-round pick, and a 2026 sixth-round pick.

While there were some big deals around the league, Paddock said the situation with the Pats and Bedard is different.

“This is a different thing because you are talking about two sides — me and Connor. It is different than a 19-year-old,” Paddock said.

Since Bedard is 17 and is still in high school, he has a no-trade clause built into his contract. That adds another layer to any sort of deal involving the WHL’s current scoring leader, who has 70 points in 29 games.

“I’m not putting it all on him, but it’s different. You think to some extent about those returns. I think everyone in the league is going, ‘Wow,’ for the prices, period,” Paddock said.

Paddock said the price for players has gone up this year because of the fact a WHL team — Kamloops — is hosting the Memorial Cup. That means there’s an extra team in the arms race when it comes to the tournament.

“There’s at least one more team in a buyer’s thing. That jacks the prices up,” Paddock said.

According to Paddock, something that has been different this year has been that forwards have been in high demand when most teams are usually looking to shore up their blue lines.

“This year has been forwards and it was forwards a long time ago during the season. I hardly talked to anybody who wasn’t looking for a forward,” Paddock said. “There’s a shortage of forwards, and that includes us. (Zackary Shantz and Tye Spencer) are out for another five weeks so we’re pretty slim there.”

The Pats did make some moves heading into the deadline, trading goaltender Matthew Kieper to the Blazers on Jan. 3 for a 2023 fourth-round pick (via the Edmonton Oil Kings) and a sixth-round pick in 2025. On Saturday, the Pats traded forward Easton Armstrong to the Winnipeg Ice for defenceman Omen Harmacy.

The Pats made one deal on deadline day, trading a 2026 fourth-round pick to Everett for 19-year-old forward Steel Quiring. The Vernon, B.C., product has seven points (three goals, four assists) in 32 games this season split between Everett and the Calgary Hitmen.

With the deadline now passed, the Pats (19-19-1-1) sit seventh in the Eastern Conference and will try to hold onto a playoff spot.

“We have to get playing better. We haven’t played very good lately,” Paddock said. “We won’t have played until some time in February — (with) what looks like on paper and what they’ve proven in the league — with our top six (forwards) in the lineup at the same time.

“I like our defence; it’s one of the better ones we’ve had since the Memorial Cup … We need to go out and play to a level we all think we’re at. It remains to be seen, but we like to think we’re in a position to do some damage as we go ahead from here on in.”