Cameron Hebig will finish his Western Hockey League (WHL) career with the Regina Pats.
The Saskatoon Blades traded Hebig to the Pats on Wednesday morning in a three-way deal that also involved the Medicine Hat Tigers.
Along with Hebig, the Pats acquired goalie Ryan Kubic from the Blades in exchange for goalie Tyler Brown, forward Bryan Lockner and Regina’s first- and second-round draft picks in 2020, and third-round draft picks in 2019 and 2021.
The Blades then moved Lockner, along with a 2020 first-round draft pick and a 2021 second-round draft pick, to the Tigers for forward Max Gerlach.
Blades general manager Colin Priestner said it was hard to trade Hebig, who has played his entire WHL career with his hometown team.
“Cameron was a fantastic player for us since he was 16 and it is tough to move a player of his quality but we feel this deal gives us pivotal assets for the future with another projected lottery pick from a rival team,” Priestner said in a release.
“We knew with some of the assets recovered in this deal we could go out and get a player of Max Gerlach’s ability.”
Gerlach has 16 goals and 19 assists in 35 games this season and has 142 career points in 179 games.
Priestner said dealing for Gerlach gives the team another offensive threat next season.
“Max is a pure sniper who sees the game at a high level and is one of the top goal scoring wingers in the WHL over the last three years,” Priestner said.
“Players like him do not come available very often and the fact he can play for this year and next year as an overage made this decision easy for us.”
Priestner said adding Brown to the team gives the Blades an experienced netminder.
“Tyler has 35 games of playoff experience as a starter, as he will make an excellent tandem with our young tender (Nolan Maier),” Priestner said.
The Blades are in action Wednesday evening when they take on the Tigers at SaskTel Centre.
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