Manitoba Moose

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

High-scoring centres hard to come by

Moose trying and trying to land one

21/11/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

Every hockey team has holes.What the Manitoba Moose have themselves is what you call a H-O-L-E.

Capital letters. Full stop.

No wonder last year's Calder Cup finalists are off to a wobbly 10-9-2 start. Go figure. The Moose are to the power play what Paulie Shore is to comedy.

After all, when you start the AHL season without a bona fide No. 1 centreman chances are you're going to have scoring issues. And that's exactly what the Moose have done.

Consider that last season the Moose forked over $600,000 for the deft hands of Jason Krog, who proceeded to sing for his supper to the tune of 30 goals and 56 assists. Krog was literally money, and therefore it was no coincidence that the Moose came within two wins of their first AHL championship in franchise history.

Alas, Krog split for that other Windy City, and hence is now working his magic for the Chicago Wolves.

In fact, you want to know where the Moose scoring is this season?

It's in Abbotsford, where Jason Jaffray has nine goals and eight assists (52 points in 56 games with the Moose last season). It's in Rockford, where Mark Cullen has seven goals and nine assists (14G, 25A in Manitoba last season). And it's in Chicago, where Krog has 12 points in the Wolves' last seven games alone.

Hey, it's not like the Moose and parent Canucks haven't been searching the globe for a proven front-line centreman. The plan at the outset was straightforward: The Canucks, top-heavy with defencemen in training camp, were intending to deal for a depth centreman to park in Manitoba prior to the start of the season. Never happened.

"We've tried hard," reported Moose head coach Scott Arniel. "We had a wish-list of players we wanted. Probably the best way to say it was we wanted to replace Jason Krog. But he's an impact player and it's a tough thing to replace a player like that.

"It's a hole for the Canucks organization because down through the middle of the ice the only guy they have under contract is Mario Bliznak. So no disrespect to Mario, but he's not going to go up and play on the top two lines (in Vancouver). If they were to lose -- knock on wood -- one of their top two centres, being (Ryan) Kesler and Henrik Sedin, they've got some issues themselves.

"It's hurt us, obviously, on the power play and in scoring goals. Those guys... in this league they make a big difference. They can change games. Believe me, we've been pounding the phones since training camp. We've tried every option available, gone to every team. Vancouver is trying to work their deals along the way, too. There hasn't been quality guys there that we can just go and grab."

Of course, the Moose did acquire veteran Marty Murray and Marco Rosa in the off-season to shore up the middle. Both are in double digits in scoring; Rosa with 5G, 7A while Murray has 10 points (4 goals).

The addition of centre Erik Christensen, who was sent to Manitoba on a conditioning assignment from the Anaheim Ducks on Thursday, was welcome news in Mooseville, too.

But, face, it, if the Moose want to seriously consider themselves a Calder Cup contender this season, they're not going to do it without a No. 1 at centre ice. It's not helping, either, that both leagues have been ravaged by hurts and illness this fall.

"There's been so many injuries in the NHL," Arniel said. "Now it's starting to affect the American League teams and they're starting to get banged up as well. We're not alone on this. And if you have those guys you probably don't want to get rid of them just because you need that depth."

Needless to say, if and when the right player becomes available, the Moose won't hesitate to pounce.

"There wouldn't be a whole lot of debate on it," the head coach said. "We do our homework -- maybe he's a bad guy or a selfish player -- those guys you overlook. But we're going to be less picky now than we would be in August, let's put it that way."

Until then, the Manitoba Moose will be the AHL's version of a donut: a hockey team with a hole in the middle.

randy.turner@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 21, 2009 D6

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