Regina Pats give province hope to break WHL championship drought

The only WHL fans in Saskatchewan that know what a homegrown winner looks like were alive before the Internet even existed. The last time the province produced a winner was when the Swift Current Broncos beat the Portland Winterhawks in 1993 to win its second WHL championship.

Why the Land of Living Skies’ five Dub clubs have struggled to produce high-end teams isn’t that cut and dried. Most of the onus is on owners and their boards, but there needs to be some slack cut because of a couple disadvantages.

There have been mismanagement issues for some teams. Former Regina Pats majority owner Russ Parker let his son, Brent Parker, sit in the GM chair for 15 years despite a lack of on-ice success. Somewhat aligned with that, ex-Saskatoon Blades owner Jack Brodsky seemed to give Lorne Molleken nine lives as he didn’t leave his role behind the bench until he went through three straight playoff sweeps and a last-place finish in the 2013 Memorial Cup. The Prince Albert Raiders took a page out of Brodsky’s playbook by letting Bruno Campese enter into his eighth year as the team’s architect this season even though a playoff series win was nowhere to be found in his first seven years.

At the other end of the spectrum, Saskatchewan clubs have had some recruiting obstacles. Some high-end talent out of places such as B.C. and the U.S., would not commit to a province where minus-20 is business as usual in the winter. In addition, three of the organizations (Moose Jaw Warriors, Broncos and Raiders) are small-market clubs, so they have a disadvantage against teams with deeper pockets when it comes to “recruiting” top-end imports and hiring big-name coaches.

But 21 years later, excuses don’t carry a lot of weight anymore, especially since the province to the west, Alberta, has eight championships in that time span.

As it stands, most of Saskatchewan's teams don’t seem to have light at the end of the tunnel. The Broncos appear to be a bit of wildcard heading into this year’s playoffs, but a title seems out of their grasp this season and the ones in the not-so distant future. The Warriors are in no-man’s land despite having Brayden Point as its backbone because poor drafting gave the Tampa Bay Lightning pick not a strong enough entourage. The Blades and Raiders are laying the ground floor in their rebuilds.

The Pats, on the other hand, stick out as a club with the potential to buck the province’s losing trend. Not this year, but two years down the road in 2016-17. This is only the case because president of hockey operations and head coach John Paddock decided to deal four veteran 19-year-olds (Morgan Klimchuk, Connor Gay, Dryden Hunt and Kyle Burroughs) nearing the trade deadline to better his blueprint for the future even though the Queen City Kids sat comfortably in second spot in the East Division.

The crux of Paddock’s thinking in his trio of significant trades was to bring in players that would complement rookie sensation Sam Steel, who was the No. 2 selection in the 2013 WHL bantam draft. He acquired 1997-born rugged forward Jesse Gabrielle from the Brandon Wheat Kings, 1997-born defender Connor Hobbs from the Medicine Hat Tigers and 1998-born centre Jake Leschyshyn from the Red Deer Rebels.

“It was tough personally to say goodbye to those players, but from the hockey side of things we know making those moves was needed to build a team for the future,” says Paddock. “We feel we brought in some good players that will be around to help us win next year and beyond that. That was the plan heading into this year from the start and we stuck to it.”

Based on the current outlook, Regina’s offense should be its greatest strength in 2016-17. Steel, who has 13 goals and 39 points in 46 contests this year, will lead the way while Gabrielle, Leschyshyn, 1997-born wing Austin Wagner and 1996-born centre Adam Brooks round out a solid top five. It’s a nice blend of skilled two-way centres (Steel and Leschyshyn), speed (Wagner), muscle (Gabrielle) and experience (Brooks). In addition, prospects Erik Gardiner and Jacob Elmer could develop into valuable depth players for the Pats by that time.

“Bringing in players like Gabrielle and Leschyshyn put our offense and whole team in a better situation for the future,” says the former NHL head coach. “Gabrielle has already shown he can score in this league and plays a tougher style that you need on every team. Jake (Leschyshyn) was the No. 6 pick of last year’s bantam draft, so that tells you a lot about him. He was a player that I would say pretty much every team if not every team had ranked in the top 10. He has the skill to play behind Steel at centre in the future.”

The Pats’ future on the blueline and in net is a tad blurry, but they do have some key pieces. Hobbs, a slick skater with a 6-foot-2, 192-pound frame, has the potential to develop into a legitimate top-pairing defenceman. Top 2014 bantam pick Jordan Hollett is regarded as the goalie of the future. He has an enticing 6-foot-3, 181-pound stature and has thrived in the Okanagan Hockey Academy this season.

It seems the biggest obstacle that will stand in Regina’s way in 2016-17 will be Brandon. Manitoba’s lone WHL club is built for next season, but will still have an extremely strong core the following year. One of the two divisional rivals will see its season end by at least the second round because of how the league’s playoff format is set up.

While building up to that season, the 28-17-4-2 Pats will gain some valuable post-season experience this year. They are poised to crack the second season even though they were one of the biggest sellers at the trade deadline. It is even within their grasp to win a round if veteran netminder Daniel Wapple can steal a game or two.

Kelly Friesen is a Buzzing the Net columnist for Yahoo! Sports. Follow him on Twitter @KellyFriesen