By Tim Switzer /
After a disappointing regular season, Regina Pats general manager Brent Parker is doing his best to look ahead.
That’s not always so easy.
It’s not that Parker’s mind keeps drifting back to the Pats’ 27-39-1-5 record or missing the postseason. It’s the large number of unknowns facing the Pats in the coming months that make things difficult.
Five key Regina players who are eligible to return to the WHL next season — forwards Jordan Eberle and Brett Leffler, defencemen Colten Teubert and Matt Delahey and goaltender Linden Rowat — are on the brink of professional careers.
Eberle and Teubert could still play junior for two years, but were first-round draft picks (of the Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings, respectively) in the 2008 draft and were members of Canada’s gold-medal winning team at the 2009 world junior championship, both of which could increase their professional prospects. The others are all eligible to return as 20-year-olds but will likely attend NHL camps in the fall.
“If all five of them don’t come back, it changes the look of our team drastically but I don’t think that is going to be the case that they’ll all be gone,” said Parker. “That’s the nature of junior hockey. We’re here to move these kids on and get them opportunities to play pro.”
Having already lost Victor Bartley to graduation, Regina’s blueline could be the most affected if Teubert and Delahey were to go pro.
If Rowat goes, the Pats still have Damien Ketlo, who served as a backup in 2008-09, as well as prospects Derek Tendler (Regina Pat Canadians) and Dawson Guhle (Sherwood Park Kings) in the fold.
The loss of Eberle and Leffler would mean the loss of the Pats’ top two goal scorers from last season although others like Eastern Conference rookie-of-the-year Jordan Weal could be expected to pick up some of the slack.
Parker, who is leaning toward returning for a 15th season, also has decisions to make on the coaching staff. First-year head coach Dale Derkatch took some heat this season as the Pats were expected to be one of the tops teams in the Eastern Conference.
Parker is not about to rush to judgment.
“I don’t think it was any one thing,” said Parker. “We can all share in the responsibility. I don’t think it’s all the coaches. I don’t think it’s all the players. And I don’t think it’s all decisions we made at the management level.”
And even decisions on his own future and those of his coaches will have to wait until after the WHL bantam draft, to be held April 30.
“If there’s a timeline, it’s a loose timeline,” said Parker. “We’ll get through the bantam draft and then assess the remainder of things.”