Regina Pats hire David Bell as WHL franchise’s 44th head coach

The Regina Pats have hired David Bell as the club’s new bench boss.

On Monday, the team announced the 49-year-old product of Wiarton, Ont., will be serving as the WHL club’s 44th head coach.

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“The buzz and the potential around the group, that was the first thing anybody said to me,” Bell said. “What an organization, and the sense of community, and it’s a community team and people are passionate about the Pats and the results that they get. That’s something I love.”

Regina Pats general manager Dale Derkatch admitted it took a while to find the right person after the team announced in April that it would not extend the contracts of former head coach Brad Herauf and assistant coach Ryan Smith.

“Mainly that was because I am still heavily involved in the scouting stuff and didn’t have time to start the process until after the WHL draft,” Derkatch said. “There were names, and you have a few candidates. You try to do your best job to get to know the people. A little bit difficult at times when they aren’t from near Regina.”

While he usually does things pretty quickly, Derkatch said he knew choosing Herauf’s replacement shouldn’t be rushed.

“This is one of those things where I took my time,” he said. “Maybe it’s age. Maybe I’m getting there where I start to take a little bit more time to do things. Very happy with where things have gone and where we are at.”

Bell takes over a Pats team that went 25-34-7-2 last season, making a return to the postseason. Regina ultimately lost a best-of-seven series against the Medicine Hat Tigers 4-1.

Bell said he’s confident his players can perform on the ice next season.

“I think they are young, but I think you can win as a young group,” Bell said.

“There’s a lot of buzz around this team so that’s one of the biggest things that made it intriguing to me. They are ready to take a big step in their personal games and as a group in the standings. I think they are ready to pop.”

In Regina, Bell will get a chance to coach both Maddox Schultz and Liam Pue, who are both considered some of the top young prospects in the WHL.

“It was very appealing. Talking to a lot of scouts or different people around, those two names came up,” Bell said.

“There’s a real good core here of players to build around and support those guys, but those two names came up a lot in my research of taking the job.”

Bell joins the team after spending seven seasons with the AHL’s Belleville Senators, the primary affiliate of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators. He was the assistant coach from 2019-23 before being promoted to head coach in 2023. He was fired in December of 2025.

Bell compiled a 97-78-15-11 record over 201 regular-season games in Belleville, and helped the team reach the second round of the 2024 Calder Cup playoffs. He also led the Senators to a franchise-record 45-win season in 2024-25.

His time with the Senators organization had him play an integral role in the development of a number of NHL players, including Drake Batherson, Josh Norris, Ridly Greig, Parker Kelly, Cole Reinhardt, Mark Kastelic and Zack Ostapchuk.

Bell spent 13 seasons in the Ontario Hockey League between 2004 and 2017, serving as an assistant coach with the Owen Sound Attack, Barrie Colts and Niagara IceDogs before being named head coach of the IceDogs during the 2016-17 season. He also spent two seasons as an assistant coach with the Ontario Reign of the AHL from 2017-19, the Los Angeles Kings’ affiliate.

“In pro, you don’t have a lot of rules for how to do things. One of the slogans I say is ‘Do the right thing.’ I think in junior, you probably have to teach them to do the right thing. They think they know how to work or think they are detailed. You have to show them a lot more, and there’s a lot more instruction and a lot more corrections,” Bell said.

“The way they are now is they are all advanced. They have their personal trainers and strength guys and skill guys. At the end of the day, it’s the finite things of becoming a pro and being away from home for the first time.”

Bell said there are times when players who come from junior hockey ask questions about what they were taught or still didn’t know about.

“I’m very cognizant of teaching these guys how to present themselves as pros to our equipment managers, to the ushers in the stands, to the bus driver, and then to their teammates about how to act and how to grow,” he said.

As a player, Bell suited up as a defenceman with the Ottawa 67s from 1994-98, serving as team captain during his final two seasons. Following his junior career, he signed with the San Jose Sharks organization and played professionally in the American Hockey League and ECHL from 1998-2004.