You can't blame Neil Petruic for wanting a little stability.
It's been a bit of a roller-coaster start to the season for Petruic, who made the Manitoba Moose roster out of training camp and stuck around to start the season, only to be released from his pro tryout offer on Oct. 7.
Shortly after returning home to Regina to await the start of the ECHL season, Petruic was re-signed by the Moose on Oct. 12, two days after the team lost fellow defencemen Brian Salcido and Lawrence Nycholat in the same game.
Speaking of instability, during his time with the Moose, Petruic's ECHL rights have been traded twice, first from Stockton to Elmira and then from Elmira to Victoria, who happen to be Manitoba's ECHL affiliate.
That's a situation Petruic hopes he won't have to worry about, since his role with the Moose is about to be enhanced after Mike Funk went down with a concussion in Saturday's 4-1 loss to the Texas Stars.
"For the past five weeks it's been a bit up in the air, it wears on you a bit, but it's life and there are worse things you can go through," said Petruic, a 27-year-old with 192 AHL games on his resume. "I'm excited to get in there and play."
Knowing the history of the Moose franchise, which prides itself on giving the best players an opportunity to play regardless of draft or prospect status, was one of the big reasons Petruic chose to come to training camp with the Moose.
"They said they'd give me a good look and that's all you really want when you come to these things without a contract," said Petruic, who was originally chosen by the Ottawa Senators in the eighth round (235th overall) of the 2001 NHL Entry Draft. "You want a chance."
Petruic went through a similar situation last fall, when he opened the campaign with the Stockton Thunder of the ECHL but ended up playing 64 AHL games with the Binghamton Senators.
Perhaps a similar breakthrough is just around the corner for Petruic, who figures to play on the top pairing with Nolan Baumgartner and will even see time on the power play when the Moose welcome the Toronto Marlies to the MTS Centre for tonight's first meeting of the AHL season.
"The power play is a little foreign to me," said Petruic. "I've played close to 200 AHL games and only about two on the power play, so it's a little bit new. You're playing with some pretty skilled guys, so hopefully, you make the best of it."
Moose head coach Scott Arniel admires Petruic's work ethic and patience and believes he's ready for increased minutes.
"He's an offensive guy who has AHL experience," said Arniel. "He's going to be on the power play, he has good vision and he can shoot the puck. You try to throw those offensive guys out there when you're struggling to score goals."
ken.wiebe@sunmedia.ca
