Way back at the 2024 NHL Draft, the Calgary Flames made a splash when they selected hometown boy Andrew Basha, a winger from the Medicine Hat Tigers, in the second round. Basha was pretty highly-regarded in draft circles, and seen as a potential first-round level talent by many scouts.
The excitement surrounding Basha was muted somewhat this season, though, as he was limited to just 23 games this past season due to a couple of injury absences – including surgery early in 2025. Well, good news, gang: Basha may be back in action, and just in time for the Western Hockey League championship series.
In Basha’s absence, the Tigers have put together a very nice season, and they advanced to the WHL final series with playoff series victories over Swift Current, Prince Albert and Lethbridge that have seen them lose precisely one game. They’re set to face the Spokane Chiefs on Friday night in Game 1 of the Dub’s championship round.
Via the Medicine Hat News’ James Tubb, Basha was a full participant at Tigers practice on Tuesday – as was Columbus Blue Jackets first-round selection Cayden Lindstrom.
Basha last played for Medicine Hat back on Dec. 28. Lindstrom last played during the 2024 WHL playoffs.
Over at Postmedia, our pal Danny Austin profiled Basha this week as he nears his possible return, noting that Basha had been playing through an ankle injury for awhile and that surgery was eventually decided as the best option.
“I got hurt last year, actually, and just continued playing on it for a full year, pretty much a playing at 60 per cent type of thing,” Basha explained. “That was kind of a mental battle and earlier this year it just started creeping up on me more than I could handle and I learned a lot about myself.
“If I had waited and gotten the surgery after playoffs I kind of would have been screwed for next year. I’ve gotten substantially stronger, a lot quicker, so I’ve kind of turned it into a bit of a blessing in physical form and hopefully I can use that well.”
We may not have seen Basha at his full potential, and it’s pretty impressive he had the season he in 2023-24 given the circumstances. Head over to Postmedia’s site to read the whole piece, which is excellent and worth your time.
Basha is a 2005-born player on an entry-level contract. He’s old enough to be able to play in the American League with the Calgary Wranglers in the fall. This could be his last hurrah in major junior hockey before he goes pro. And for a player that’s come up through the Western League, there could be no more fun way to close out his junior career than a WHL championship victory.
(Okay, maybe a Memorial Cup win, but one step at a time.)
The WHL championship series begins with Game 1 on Friday. You can watch the series live on TSN. We’ll see if Basha and Lindstrom end up suiting up for the Tigers.

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