Regina Pats' assistant general manager Tristan Frei is not worried about players such as Maddox Schultz or Liam Pue following Gavin McKenna to the NCAA for substantial NIL money.
"I think the biggest thing is player treatment and treating our players the best that we can, giving them no reason to move on. We want all our players to play their whole junior career with us and I think we do a lot of amazing things with the Pats," Frei told the SportsCage.
"I had the opportunity to play pro with a few different teams and I can tell you that the Pats are treated pro-like in terms of where we stay on the road, where we eat, the staff that we have around, and the investment from our owner. That's the biggest thing for us is providing our players with the resources they need, the development they need, and the player treatment that goes along with that."
McKenna plans to leave the Medicine Hat Tigers and go play for Penn State University in the NCAA for the 2025-2026 season. This was made possible by a recent rule change, which allows players from the CHL to play in the NCAA.
Two former Pats players are going to play in the NCAA next season: forward Braxton Whitehead with Arizona State University, and John Babcock for Robert Norris University. All that news from the NCAA has made American players more eager to test their skills in the Western Hockey League.
"We're already seeing that interest, we have way more USA kids coming to our fall camp than ever before. We've made an investment to have scouts down there now, we have two guys that are down there and they're doing a really good job at keeping us informed of the young players that want to come up. We're actively, throughout the year, listing players that they feel should be on our 50-man list," Frei detailed.
"I think it's a changing landscape both ways because we have young elite USA players that want to come play for us. Before the change, a lot of them were hesitant to lose their scholarships. I think it's great for the league, it's going to make our league better in that way."
Frei was born in the Queen City and played with the Regina Pat Canadians from 2010-2013. Then he played for the Melfort Mustangs in the 2013-2014 SJHL season. During the 2015 and 2016 seasons, Frei helped the Mustangs win the SJHL Championship. Later on, Frei played four years with the University of Regina Cougars hockey team from 2016 to 2020. The last team Frei played for in his career was the Guildford Flames in the EIHL from 2021-2023.
Meanwhile, the Regiment shuffled their front office when GM Alan Millar left for Hockey Canada to become the general manager for Canada's National Junior Team and Canada's National Men's Under-18 Team at both the Hlinka Gretzky Cup and the IIHF U18 Men's World Championship. He will also look after the national under-17 program. To replace Millar, the Pats made Dale Derkatch the new GM and promoted Frei to assistant GM. Prior to the promotion, Frei was the manager of hockey operations for the Pats.
"Alan, what an amazing mentor that I've had in terms of him. I said in my speech that he allowed me to be by his side for absolutely everything in terms of ownership meetings and everything -- I couldn't have asked for a more amazing person to learn from," Frei said. "Now I get to work extremely close with Dale. I'm very privileged as a young man."
