Slowly but surely, the answers are beginning to outweigh the questions.
Manitoba Moose head coach Scott Arniel returned home after his team dropped a pair of pre-season games to the Abbotsford Heat and delivered the bad news to 12 players yesterday. At the same time, Arniel found out he was receiving eight players from the parent Vancouver Canucks, bringing his pre-season roster up to 25.
"You never know 100% what the lineup is going to look like," said Arniel. "The make-up here, I really like."
Among those sent down by the Canucks were goalie Cory Schneider, defencemen Nolan Baumgartner and Nathan McIver and forwards Michael Grabner, Guillaume Desbiens, Alexandre Bolduc, Matt Pope and Mario Bliznak.
Grabner was hoping to break camp with the Canucks, but was limited to one assist in seven NHL pre-season games.
The Canucks still have 29 players on their roster (25 healthy) and need to get down to 23 by Wednesday.
Two players the Moose aren't expected to have in the lineup in Friday's Winnipeg Sun-sponsored opener against the Houston Aeros are forwards Sergei Shirokov and Tanner Glass.
Shirokov, the talented Russian rookie, ended the pre-season on a high note, picking up another two assists in a 5-4 overtime loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
While he was expected to start the season with the Moose, Shirokov had two goals and seven points in four NHL pre-season games and will either start the season on the top line with the Sedin twins or on the second unit with Ryan Kesler.
Glass had a strong finish to the pre-season and nailed down his job after former Moose sniper Jannik Hansen broke his hand in a fight with Oilers forward Gilbert Brule on Sunday and is expected to be out of action for four-to-six weeks.
Thanks to a strong camp, a trio of defencemen -- Chris St. Croix, Neil Petruic and Winnipegger Geoff Waugh -- and a pair of forwards -- Olivier Latendresse and Brandon product Derek LeBlanc -- are sticking around to start the season.
Enforcer Matt McCue also did enough to warrant a longer look with the Moose.
Among those released by the Moose yesterday were goalies Adam Munro and Winnipegger Rejean Beauchemin, forwards Ryan Del Monte, Maxime Lacroix and John Swanson and defenceman Andrew Thomas.
Forwards Dan Gendur, Scott Howes and Winnipegger Dirk Southern and defencemen Taylor Ellington were assigned to the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL, while Anaheim Ducks prospects John de Gray and Eric Regan were assigned to the Bakersfield Condors of the ECHL.
HOOF PRINTS: Moose D Brian Salcido got banged up during Sunday's pre-season game, but is expected to be ready to play Friday night. Arniel is also hopeful Fs Desbiens (broken toe) and Bolduc will be ready to play Friday after dealing with some lingering bumps and bruises from Canucks camp.
ken.wiebe@sunmedia.ca
