Adair ready to play in home province

By Lethbridge Herald on February 4, 2026.

Nathan Reiter

Lethbridge Herald

When the Lethbridge Hurricanes head to Saskatchewan this week, it will be an opportunity for Carsen Adair to play in front of family and friends.

The 18-year-old blueliner is from the village of Clavet, Sask. which is located just southeast of Saskatoon on Highway 16. In an interview with the Herald, Adair says he’s looking forward to playing in some familiar buildings.

“It’s super exciting going back home to Saskatoon and PA even, it’s pretty close to where I played. I’m pretty familiar with those barns and they’re always interesting, especially PA. I’m excited to see my family, my friends, and hopefully they’re all going to be able to come to the game.”

It’s only about a half hour drive from Clavet to the SaskTel Centre, the home of the Saskatoon Blades, which sits in the north end of Saskatoon along Highway 11. Adair says he has plenty of memories watching games there before he was drafted into the WHL.

“My dad and I always went to Blade games. I remember growing up and watching Kirby Dach, Chase Wouters and all those types of guys. It was a ton of fun, so there’s a lot of good memories, and especially at the SaskTel (Centre). I didn’t go to a ton of games in PA.”

Adair is in his second full season with the Hurricanes. He was originally a third round pick by Lethbridge in the 2022 WHL Prospects, taken 55th overall. In 47 games this season, Adair has posted four goals and nine assists. Last season, he skated in 66 regular season games with two goals and seven helpers.

Hurricane head coach Matt Anholt says Adair has stepped into a more prominent role with Lethbridge this season.

“It makes a huge difference when you can sense a little bit more leadership, a little bit more onus of the team, it always makes guys elevate a little bit more knowing that the team success or lack thereof is more on your stick because you’re more of a go-to guy than you were in your previous year or whatever it may have been. I think he took lots of strides last year as a first-time guy, there’s a reason he went to an NHL camp because he played really well in the playoffs and it’s because he developed the right way all season, didn’t complain about minutes or whatever, just got better and good to see him having some success this year because he’s a great kid.”

Last season, Lethbridge featured several older defencemen that have moved on from the WHL. Noah Chadwick and Caden Price are both playing in the American Hockey League this season while Vojtech Port returned home to play for HC Vitkovice in his home country of Czechia. Logan McCutcheon also committed to Quinnipiac University after aging out.

Anholt says learning from those four players were crucial for a player like Adair. 

“I think he’s done relatively well. The hard part is the challenge for him as an 18-year-old second year defenseman in the league is he’s taken really hard match ups night in, night out and that’s tough to do. With Carsen, he was able to learn from a lot of really good players, but for the most part, really good people in last year’s d core. Those four guys were outstanding for him to feed off of on a daily basis. I think it’s taken him to another level this year.”

When asked about his former teammates, Adair says he was glad to be able to soak in all the knowledge that he could. 

“I learned a ton of stuff. Even going through drills, how they compete, how they take every drill, every small area game and practice super serious and they do it at a pro level. So a lot of learning was done last year and that was kind of what I was looking forward to doing.”

Prior to his time with the Hurricanes, Adair played two seasons with the Warman Wildcats in the Saskatchewan Male AAA Hockey League (SMAAAHL). Other notable WHL names who have played in Warman include Beckett Hamilton (Red Deer), Calder Hamilton (Calgary) and Cohen Klassen (Regina). 

Warman first joined the SMAAAHL ahead of the 2020-21 campaign. Adair says his time with the program helped prepare him for the WHL.

“It was great. Nothing I think can really prepare you for some of the trips, like Brandon last year in the playoffs, that was pretty crazy. Traveling there is great. I like to joke with guys that are from the CSSHL, I like to joke that our league is better and more complete. But, I think there’s good sides to both. But the triple A league, it was awesome. I’m grateful to play in that league and grateful to be an alumni of the Warman Wildcats.”

Lethbridge returns to action on Friday night when they travel to take on the Prince Albert Raiders at the Art Hauser Centre. Puck drop is set for 6 p.m. Alberta time.