A new hockey era for Winnipeg on the horizon

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 18/07/2015 (3769 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The building of the new Manitoba Moose is in many ways nearly complete.

The AHL team’s operations, shifted to Winnipeg after four seasons in St. John’s, N.L., is moving along nicely, including the repatriation of Manitoba native and Moose head coach Keith McCambridge.

Some operational modifications at the MTS Centre are also underway to house the Moose for 38 regular-season home games.

With somewhere near 4,000 Moose season tickets sold for 2015-16, True North Sports & Entertainment has also hired a dedicated sales team for the AHL club.

“I know our sales force has finally hit the ground running just today,” Jets assistant GM and Moose GM Craig Heisinger said late this week. “Now there should be a little bit of change in the needle now that they’re mobilized and going.”

The parent Winnipeg Jets have also been very busy to this point in terms of signing players. The NHL organization has more than 20 players already signed on two-way contracts or AHL contracts for 2015-16.

“The move of the franchise back to Winnipeg is an ongoing process,” Heisinger said. “It’s gone fairly smoothly, the transfer of hard goods and things like that.

“And the transition of some renovation stuff is on schedule and getting done. But it’s all a work in progress. I think the whole year’s going to be a work in progress. There will be things to learn every day, the issues both positive and negative that you didn’t anticipate will happen.

“And I think it’s hard to put your finger on exactly what those issues will be this far ahead of time.”

True North, owners of the Jets and Moose franchises, operated an AHL team for 10 years between 2001 and 2011 but Heisinger said the new era of the Moose will work differently.

“We didn’t do (the AHL) in combination with an NHL team in the same city,” he said. “That’s where the wild cards are. They’re huge.”

In terms of development philosophy, things are also different today than they were four years ago when the Moose were an independent organization affiliated with the Vancouver Canucks.

“The Moose in the AHL is going to be different than what fans remember,” Heisinger said. “At the end of the day, it will be what’s best for the Winnipeg Jets and what’s best for the Winnipeg Jets is for young players to be playing and playing a lot.”

The makeup of the Moose on opening night in October is anybody’s guess as of today.

That’s because the Jets have some obvious openings on their roster for the 2015-16 season, in particular on the fourth line. And to that end, September figures to bring an intense battle for those positions among the organization’s top young prospects such as Joel Armia, Andrew Copp and Nic Petan and a few with ample pro experience already under their belts, such as Matt Fraser and Patrice Cormier.

One thing’s guaranteed. Like their NHL team, the Moose will be a young outfit. AHL teams are permitted five veteran players with more than 260 games of pro experience and another with more than 320 games.

The Moose may have one or two of those veteran players but it’s also possible they’ll have none. Cormier and free agent defenceman Andrew MacWilliam, if they are in the AHL, could well be the team’s oldest players at 25.

“They could be,” Heisinger said. “It would be enough leadership if it’s those quality guys. The quality matters. Patrice has played a while but he’s going to get a legitimate shot with the Jets. And if he doesn’t stick, Andrew MacWilliam is a depth guy and he’s an Andrew Gordon category for character.”

Gordon, now 29, played for the organization in St. John’s in 2013-14, the season the team went to the AHL championship series.

A telltale sign of youth and development came just after free agency began earlier this month when the Jets put three young defencemen — all draft picks of the organization — on AHL contracts at the end of their college careers, signing Aaron Harstad, Brennan Serville and Peter Stoykewych.

“Defencemen take a little bit longer time to develop,” Heisinger said. “There was an opportunity to sign them to AHL contracts to continue their development process, and we’re happy they took the opportunity to sign with us.”

Heisinger said fans should not read too much into which contracts were signed. NHL teams are limited to 50 contracts.

“Just because you’re not on an NHL contract doesn’t mean you’re not in the organization,” he said. “That’s what the AHL is for. Many players start on AHL contracts that are now playing in the NHL.

“With us recently, Will O’Neill (now signed by Pittsburgh), John Albert. And from before, Kevin Bieksa, Alex Burrows, all those guys.”

Albert, 26, may still be back with the organization. He’s a restricted free agent, and the Moose are still talking to him about a return.

tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca