The most important thing for Andrew Basha was just to play as much hockey as possible.
The Calgary Flames’ second-round pick, 41st overall, in the 2024 NHL Draft spent the first couple months of the season playing in the AHL with the Calgary Wranglers. The transition to pro hockey takes a bit, though, and as December rolled on playing time was getting harder to come by.
And so, in early-January, Flames and Wranglers management made the decision to send the 20-year-old back to the WHL for a couple more months of junior hockey with the Medicine Hat Tigers.
“It wasn’t a quick decision by us as a management group,” said Wranglers GM and Flames assistant GM Brad Pascall. “We talked about it over a number of weeks. Even at the start of training camp we talked about whether the best thing for him was to be in the American League or go back.
“The overriding thing was we did this because we thought it was the best thing for his development that’s going to eventually make him a full-time NHLer and help us win a Stanley Cup.”
Returning to Medicine Hat for the rest of the season gives Basha the chance to play big minutes for a team that is leading the WHL’s Central Division and could make a run at the league’s championship for a second-straight year.
For a guy like Basha, in particular, those minutes matter.
He missed most of the 2024-25 season after getting ankle surgery in January, returning for the WHL Final series and the Memorial Cup. He needed to get the surgery, no doubt about it, but it meant he hasn’t played a tonne of hockey.
And playing a major role on a very good junior team had more value than playing fewer minutes in the AHL, in management’s eyes.
“I hadn’t really played healthy hockey for a long time, so it generally didn’t make any sense for me to not be playing,” Basha explained. “That was kind of the message. Just go back and log top minutes.
“Fortunately, the team is great. It’s a good opportunity to get my mojo back and I’m playing centre now, so it’s a really good opportunity to maybe re-identify myself a little bit and find my game, find my mojo again. It’s exciting.”
A player’s development can be tricky and there are lots of guys who want to get to the pros as quickly as possible. Speak with enough people around the game, though, and you’ll hear lots of experts who swear that the best thing for a player’s growth is to be a top player on a junior team and take on more leadership responsibilities.
Left winger Andrew Basha was photographed during practice with the Calgary Flames at the Scotiabank Saddledome on Friday, Sept. 19, 2025.
That’s certainly on the plate for Basha. He’s rejoining a Tigers team that saw a tonne of turnover in the off-season but has found a way to not only remain competitive but also emerge as one of the WHL’s top teams.
All the new faces meant there was a bit of an adjustment when Basha returned to Medicine Hat, but it still felt like home after spending four seasons with the organization.
And he’s definitely making an impact on the ice, just like Flames and Wranglers management expected he would. Through 10 games with the Tigers, Basha’s already scored five times and added 11 assists.
Next season, he’ll be with the Wranglers full-time. There’s no question about that, and a couple months putting up big numbers in the WHL should help propel him forward. Basha recorded one goal and four assists in 27 AHL games this season, but the three months he spent with the Wranglers should give him a headstart on preparing for a big year in 2026-27.
“I think it’s just a mindset thing,” Basha explained about what he learned during his first stint playing pro hockey. “It’s coming in every day, you have to be on top of everything. Your body, your nutrition, it’s probably a cliche but it really is super important.. Any advantage you can get can make a world of difference.
“It’s obviously a job at that point, you’re playing for your livelihood and just seeing how different it is in the lockerroom (compared to) the junior level. It was my first time, obviously, being around 30+ year-olds, just that dynamic, but I had a lot of fun. I got close to a lot of guys. Obviously, I was disappointed at first but ultimately I think the biggest thing is playing hockey and I haven’t gotten to do that much so I’m excited for this. I’m happy.”