Pats’ Paddock’s prescient peddling procured prime pick and one phenomenal prospect
The Regina Pats won the lottery long before they landed the first overall selection in the 2020 bantam draft.
They hit the jackpot in August of 2014 when, with training camp looming, John Paddock was hired as the head coach and general manager.
Paddock went on to win WHL coach-of-the-year honours in 2015 and 2017. Also in 2017, he was named the executive of the year after Regina posted a franchise-record 52 victories.
But even when you take that sparkling major-junior resume into consideration, a case can be made that Paddock has outdone himself.
Thanks to prescient manoeuvring, Paddock secured the Swift Current Broncos’ selection in Wednesday’s bantam-draft lottery.
The Pats ended up with the first overall pick, which will be spent on a phenom named Connor Bedard. He will become the first 15-year-old to play in the WHL under an exceptional-player designation.
Ordinarily, a lottery win could be dismissed as luck of the draw. Paddock, however, manufactured his own good fortune by consummating a deal with the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Nov. 29, 2018.
The Pats, who were building for the future after back-to-back runs at a Memorial Cup title, dealt 19-year-old stars Jake Leschyshyn and Nick Henry to Lethbridge for fellow forwards Jadon Joseph and Ty Kolle, along with five bantam-draft selections and two conditional picks.
Most noteworthy among the draft picks was a 2020 first-rounder that originally belonged to Swift Current. Swift Current had sent that pick to Lethbridge on Jan. 9, 2018, when the Broncos were fortifying a roster that would ultimately help them win a WHL title.
The Broncos, like the Pats, experienced an inevitable tailspin after the 2017-18 campaign. This past season, Swift Current posted the league’s worst record (10-48-2-3) and therefore had a 57-per-cent chance of getting the first overall pick.
The Prince George Cougars actually won the draft lottery, but were allowed to move up only two spots (from fourth to second). Ergo, Regina received the prized No. 1 selection.
Paddock promptly told the Regina Leader-post’s Greg Harder that the Pats would choose Bedard to open the April 22 bantam draft.
Bedard is an obvious choice, but keep in mind that some ultra-secretive hockey people are loath to divulge that they want their hamburger on a bun.
The multi-talented forward is, by all accounts, the full-meal deal.
His arrival in Regina will revitalize the franchise after seasons of 19-45-1-3 and 21-34-6-2 under
Dave Struch, to whom Paddock handed the head-coaching reins after the 2018 Memorial Cup.
It is unrealistic to expect someone who doesn’t turn 15 until July 17 to instantly, single-handedly reverse the Pats’ on-ice fortunes.
But this rebuilding initiative will now be energized, and likely expedited, by a cornerstone player — someone like Sam Steel or Jordan Eberle, with one exception being that Bedard will make his WHL debut a year earlier than a prime prospect typically would.
Even at this early juncture,
Bedard is already benefiting the Pats. The hype about his pending arrival has already begun. It will only intensify in the months and years ahead.
Suddenly, the Pats possess someone who is capable of stealing the spotlight, at least periodically, from Cody Fajardo and associates.
Once again, Paddock should take a bow.
“John is a very good person,” Tom Bedard, Connor’s father, told Harder, “and his resume speaks for itself.”