A day after the Red Deer Rebels traded for defenceman Jack Bousquet they signed him and added him to the roster.
On Monday the Rebels sent the Spokane Chiefs a conditional seventh-round WHL Prospects Draft selection in either 2025 or 2026 in exchange for the left-shooting blue liner.
The 16-year-old from Dallas, Texas appeared in six games this season with the Canmore Eagles of the Alberta Junior Hockey League where he contributed an assist. Last season he played 24 games for the IHA Calgary U18 Prep team where he had nine points.
Owner, president, and general manager Brent Sutter said they added Bousquet after defenceman Quentin Bourne expressed a desire to leave. The Rebels released him on Tuesday, which left them shorthanded with just six defencemen.
However, the Rebels are quite excited to add the young American who's listed as 6'1" and 176 pounds.
"We did a lot of homework on this and he just seemed to fit the criteria of what we were looking for. He doesn't turn 17 until December and we were looking for a younger defenceman who can be a really good prospect and grow with the rest of the group," he said.
"We think that he's going to be a really good prospect for us that we can develop into being a good defenceman."
Bourne, 18, was taken eighth overall in the 2021 WHL U.S. Priority Draft by the Rebels and was signed a year later.
The defenceman from Lawndale, Calif. spent the last two seasons with the Rebels where he appeared in 78 regular season games and 11 playoff games. His most productive season came during the 2023-24 campaign where he recorded 12 points (12 assists) in 47 games.
He never did score a regular-season goal in the WHL but found the back of the net during the playoffs as a forward.
"He wanted to leave because he just wasn't happy with his role," Sutter added. "Being an American kid he's a ways from home but I think it was more the fact that he wasn't happy with the role he had and where he saw himself fitting in with the defenceman we have here.
"He had a role being a sixth or seventh defenceman and some nights when he played to his potential he could be a top-four guy. At the end of the day, it just didn't work... He's an awesome kid and unfortunately, it didn't work out the way he would have liked or certainly how I would have liked. Hopefully, he has some opportunities in the U.S. to play."
