Winnipeg Wonders

There’s a notion out there Winnipeg isn’t the greatest place for an athlete to live. Unfortunately, that’s the media – it’s not a good story unless it’s negative. I remember vividly in my last couple of years there talking to reporters and saying “guys, you’re going to chase this team right out of town and then you’re going to be looking for a job.” When I played in Winnipeg there were about a dozen of us who lived there year-round. Thomas Steen, Dave Ellett, Randy Gilhen… Randy Carlyle had a cottage he’d go up to… those are only a few. There were guys who retired there as well. I enjoyed being a part of the community in Winnipeg. The city has its sports, its theatre and whatever every other city has, just on…

The Instigator

New Guy On The Scene

An equipment guy has been promoted to assistant GM? His voice was the most influential in hiring the GM? The next thing you know, the NHL will be back in Winnipeg. That story – all of it – is true courtesy of True North Sports & Entertainment. The equipment guy’s name is Craig Heisinger, and though he didn’t go straight from the skate sharpener to an NHL front office, he’s cut his own edge in the business. Heisinger is the assistant GM of Winnipeg’s newly minted franchise and got his way, backing long-time colleague, friend and rival Kevin Cheveldayoff as True North’s desired candidate to become Winnipeg’s GM. Heisinger was first pushed “upstairs” in 1999 by his longtime friend Randy Carlyle, now coach of the Anaheim Ducks. Eight years a Western League equipment…

BRAD MARCHAND

BOSTON – Until Game 6 of the Stanley Cup final, Brad Marchand was the little kid with the curl. He’d do something very naughty and almost immediately express heartfelt remorse. Then he’d go out and do it all over again. Look closely enough at Marchand and turn the clock back exactly a quarter of a century to two years before he was born, you’ll swear you’re watching Claude Lemieux. Back in 1986, Lemieux was called up to the Montreal Canadiens before the playoffs and began a career that made him one of the most despised clutch scorers of his generation. Like Lemieux, Marchand will never win the Calder Trophy. But if he continues on his trajectory, his career will be every bit as good or better than that of Jeff Skinner, Logan Couture…