Blades’ Hayden Harsanyi making the most of a new WHL opportunity

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If Hayden Harsanyi were to circle any game on the calendar, this would be THE one.

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Tuesday, February 11, 2025.

Saskatoon Blades versus Medicine Hat Tigers, 7 p.m., at SaskTel Centre.

Harsanyi — acquired by the Blades prior to the Western Hockey League deadline, along with defenceman Jack Kachkowski and five draft picks in a trade that sent defenceman Tanner Molendyk and Misha Volotovskii to the Tigers — will be playing against his former team for the very first time.

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“For sure, I’m super excited for that,” admits Harsanyi, an 18-year-old forward from Calgary. “I just want to beat them — I want to beat them pretty badly. It’ll be a fun game.”

The Tigers took the 2007-born Harsanyi in the first round, 16th overall, of the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft.

“I’m close to all the guys, just the younger guys, too — the ’07 guys, I’m pretty close with all of them,” points out Harsanyi, who tallied twice Saturday in a 5-3 win over the Regina Pats while playing on a line with veterans and alternate captains Rowan Calvert and Tyler Parr

“It’s really good. They have a lot of experience. They’ve been in the league for a while and they’ve been on deep playoff runs, so they know what it takes. It makes the game really easy to play.”

Harsanyi now has six goals and three assists for nine points in 11 games since joining the Blades. Overall, he has seven goals and six assists for 13 points in 18 games with the two teams combined this season.

“It does take time,” says Blades head coach Dan DaSilva. “It’s a month after the trade deadline and these things take time. You see the chemistry forming on the ice, off the ice.

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“That’s part of our mentality, the way we’ve been playing the entire season, getting contributions from everyone, new players and old — we had different scorers (Saturday) from (Friday night), guys stepping up which is phenomenal with (Tanner Scott and Harsanyi) both having two goals, which is great to see.”

Last season, Harsanyi recorded 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points in 68 games with the Tigers as a 17-year-old.

So far, he has especially been able to stand out on the score-sheet with the Blades.

“Hayden’s fit in really well,” says DaSIlva. ‘What I noticed at first is how quick he is on the ice. He sees the ice quite well. He’s a hard working kid. He wants to get better every day, and he’s committed to it. His role on the team is he’s (a threat) on offence. He’s a top-six guy for us, plays power play right now. He’s been a contributor, offensively, for us.”

Harsanyi and Kachkowski came over to the Blades along with a first-round draft pick and second-round draft pick in 2025, a third-rounder and fourth-rounder in 2026, plus a fifth-round selection in 2028, while giving up the highly-sought Molendyk and Volotovskii.

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“This is one of the hardest deals we’ve ever had to make,” Blades general manager and president, Colin Priestner, said at the time. “Not only did (Molendyk) give us some of the best seasons ever played by a Blades defender, but he also almost single-handedly gives us an entire WHL Draft worth of picks back to build our future around, as well as two outstanding 17-year-old players (Harsanyi and Kachkowski). For these gifts, there are almost no words we can use to thank him. He’s one of the most special players we’ve ever had, and I’m so excited for him to have chance to finish his WHL career on a Tigers team loaded with high-end talent.”

Harsanyi has been with the Blades a month now.

“I was coming fresh off an injury and I had big expectations, with it being my draft year,” he says of the current season. “I just wanted to make the best of it, make the best of my opportunity, and show them what I have.”

On Tuesday, Harsanyi is going to want to show what he has to Tigers team that let him go.

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