Connor Bedard's agent says the top prospect for the upcoming NHL Draft has not asked for a trade from his WHL club, the Regina Pats.
Greg Landry, from Newport Sports, told Sportsnet's Jeff Marek that his client has not requested a trade or initiated that conversation.
Marek's report, which can be heard in full on Friday's episode of 32 Thoughts: The Podcast, follows comments from Pats head coach and general manager John Paddock, who earlier this week said Bedard was "not going anywhere" in a testy exchange with reporters in Kamloops.
The Pats are 12-12-2 and fourth in the East Division, leading to speculation that Bedard could be traded to a contender like the Kamloops Blazers, hosts of this year's Memorial Cup. However, as Marek explains on the podcast, Bedard has a no-trade clause in his contract and the Pats are not allowed to ask him to waive it because he is 17 years old.
"This has to be the player going to the organization and saying, 'I'd like to ask for a trade, I'd like to go somewhere else,'" Marek said on the podcast. "At this point, he hasn't done that yet."
Bedard has 24 goals and 57 points in 26 WHL games this season, 14 more points than anyone else in the league. It's rare for a player of his calibre to be traded in his NHL Draft season, with the most recent example being John Tavares in 2009. In that trade, the Oshawa Generals sent Tavares, defenceman Michael Del Zotto and goaltender Daryl Borden to the London Knights for three players and six draft picks, including four second-round picks.
A Bedard trade could return "a trade package the likes of which the Western Hockey League has never seen," Marek said on the podcast, "and completely set (the Pats) up for the next however many years."
The WHL trade deadline is Jan. 10, five days after the gold-medal game at the 2023 World Junior Hockey Championship.
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