Skip to content

Surrey’s Bains caps WHL career with Bobby Clarke Trophy as top scorer, looks to make Canucks next

In 257 regular-season games, all with Red Deer, the winger totalled 209 points since his 2017 debut
29339510_web1_220609-SUL-BainsWHLAward-main_1
Surrey-raised Arshdeep Bains in action with Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League. (Photo courtesy Red Deer Rebels/Rob Wallator)

Surrey-raised Arshdeep Bains has won the WHL’s Bobby Clarke Trophy as the junior hockey league’s top scorer during the 2021-22 season.

Now a Vancouver Canucks prospect, the Red Deer Rebels winger led all WHL skaters with 69 assists and 112 points (seven more than teammate Ben King), and also finished second in the league with 10 game-winning goals.

Held off the scoresheet just 13 times during his 68 games played in 2021-22, Bains recorded three or more points 17 times during the regular season.

On Wednesday (June 1), Bains was noted among the Western Hockey League’s 2021-22 award winners, some voted upon by WHL general managers and members of the media.

The league’s Kubota Canada-presented top-scorer award is named for former Philadelphia Flyers captain Bob Clarke, a “WHL and NHL legend known to many as one of the toughest and most skilled to ever play the game.”

Bains is the second Red Deer Rebel to capture the Bob Clarke Trophy, joining Justin Mapletoft, the winner in 2000-01.

• RELATED: Film to focus on South Asian hockey players including Surrey’s Arshdeep Bains.

Bains has now graduated from the WHL after spending his entire career with the Rebels, more than four years after making his WHL debut with the club in December 2017. In 257 regular-season games with Red Deer, he totalled 209 points (77 goals, 132 assists).

Bains signed an entry-level contract with the Canucks in March of this year, and chances are he will make his pro debut with Abbotsford Canucks this fall.

STORY CONTINUES BELOW

Bains cheered for and followed the Canucks as a youngster, and as a 10-year-old saw Vancouver advance to the Stanley Cup Final.

“It’s probably the best thing a kid could dream of when they start playing hockey,” he told CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada Punjabi. “For me to get the opportunity to play in my hometown, it’s super special.”

His journey to the pros isn’t a typical one. Bains was passed over in both the WHL’s Bantam Draft and the NHL Draft. He was forced to earn his contract with the Canucks through hard work, which was noticed years ago by Rebels owner, president general manager Brent Sutter.

Bains was invited to Rebels rookie camp after putting up an eye-popping 56 points in 22 games with the Valley West Hawks (now Giants) of the BC Elite Hockey League. Sutter said he saw Bains take steps every season to become the fully formed player he is today. He noted that Bains became stronger physically and matured in Red Deer.

Red Deer Advocate editor Byron Hackett said Bains’ 2021-22 season is one of the most impressive he’s seen as a reporter who has covered the Rebels and the WHL for many years.

“From day one this season he was playing at a pace I’d never seen from a player before,” he said. “It was akin to how [Connor] McDavid looks like sometimes in the NHL. He was just so fast and so skilled and making plays at such a high pace.”

with file from Ben Lypka, Black Press Media



tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com

Like us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram and follow Tom on Twitter



Tom Zillich

About the Author: Tom Zillich

I cover entertainment, sports and news stories for the Surrey Now-Leader, where I've worked for more than half of my 30-plus years in the newspaper business.
Read more