48 hours ahead of opening the season against Regina, the Swift Current Broncos have added a former Pat to their roster.
They've traded a 2028 4th round WHL Prospects Draft pick to Regina for 17-year-old forward Zach Pantelakis.
"I've liked Zach for a long time," said Broncos GM Chad Leslie. "In bantam I liked him as a player. He's a guy that has good stance and good individual skills and has the ability to score a little bit. I think there's some offensive upsides still untapped there and an opportunity to add a guy of that age that can be around for a couple of years with our group."
Pantelakis is a 2007-born forward who scored 14 goals in 44 games with the Pats last season after arriving from Kamloops early in the season.
"Based on projection and based on when guys get more comfortable in the league," Leslie said. "It's 18 and a half is what we've always said, where guys really get comfortable and, and really start to have an impact. We project for Zach to have the ability to be offensive and trending in the right direction."
Pantelakis had 19 goals and 23 assists in 29 games for Delta Hockey Academy in CSSHL U15 Prep hockey, Kamloops then picked him in the 5th round of the WHL Prospects Draft.
The North Vancouver product jumped to the Blazers as a 16-year-old where he had 6 points over 48 games as a rookie.
His offensive touch started to show itself last season after the move to Regina.
"He shoots the puck really well," Leslie said. "He can score from outside 25 feet. He does a lot of things with his feet moving. He doesn't have to set his feet to do things."
The opportunity to acquire Pantelakis came after Regina made a move to trade for another 2007-born forward, Dayce Derkatch, from the Prince Albert Raiders.
"They made a trade earlier to bring in a player from that age group as well," Leslie said. "He's excited. Obviously, he was surprised a little bit, but he's excited and feels that there's a good opportunity with a young group here."
The Broncos carried a large contingent of players through pre-season and aren't in a rush to get down to numbers as the regular season starts Friday against Regina.
"I don't have a timeline with my roster," Leslie said. "We're going to do the things that we need to do, take our time, make sure we're making good decisions. We have some time here for sure. So we're going to take a look at things objectively and make sure we're doing what's right for our group."
Swift Current only plays one game on the WHL's opening weekend.