As Wheat Kings head coach and GM Marty Murray put it, it’s almost like getting another trade deadline acquisition. And this could be the biggest pickup of the 2025 playoff drive.
Forward Roger McQueen, who missed the last 50 games with an injury to his back, will make his return to the Wheat Kings’ lineup this evening in Red Deer when the Wheat Kings face the Rebels. It’s been a long time coming for the 2006-born forward, and now that the big day has arrived he’s brimming with excitement.
“It feels unbelievable,” McQueen said. “I can’t wait to get back on the ice with the guys. It’s tough watching, not being able to fight for your teammates and help them out. This is one of the biggest days of the year so far for me and it’s a good day in general.”
The Wheat Kings have been without McQueen since October 11, and his path back to the ice has been a long and winding one, one which NHL scouts have followed attentively as McQueen is a top-ten talent for the coming NHL draft. In that time, McQueen has watched his team keep themselves up to pace with the rest of the Eastern Conference, and stay just one point back of the division lead despite being without their number one centre.
“It sucked having to watch and not being able to be out there but they’ve done such an amazing job,” said McQueen. “The amount of injuries we’ve battled through this year, how the guys fought back, how we’re crawling back into this top seed fight, I’m so proud of them, they’ve done so much good for us.”
As well as the Wheat Kings have managed to do without him, however, there’s no doubt McQueen brings a completely unique element back to the team. He stands just a shade under 6-foot-6 and has an absolutely lethal shot, one that he frequently powers past goaltenders and used to rack up eight goals in eight games prior to injury.
“Roger is an elite player in our league and it’s almost like a big trade deadline acquisition without getting rid of anybody,” Murray said. “We’re thrilled to have him back. He looks great on the ice, but at the same time he doesn’t need to carry the team on his back. He needs to come out and just be Roger McQueen.”
The physical side of rehabilitating an injury is one thing (McQueen mentioned his first few practices felt more like bag skates because he hadn’t been able to do much of anything physical at all during the first four months of his recovery) but the mental side is another. It’s one that McQueen seemed to take in stride, as he was always around the rink with a smile on his face and trying to boost his teammates’ morale.
“You kind of switch your mental side over to the guys on the team and trying to help them out as much as you can,” he said. “Trying to be in a good mood all the time is how I try to live generally anyway.”
McQueen will start out playing alongside an actual trade acquisition in Jordan Gavin, a player he knows somewhat from the international game with Team Canada and who he’s excited to play with. Murray said there’s some excitement on the team to see what they can do together as well. Gavin has 19 points in 23 games since coming over to the Wheat Kings from Tri City.
