Winnipeg Free Press - ONLINE EDITION
Talking to the boss Main man Mark Chipman discusses all things MooseBy: Paul Wiecek
10/02/2010 8:56 AM
Mark Chipman discusses all things Moose. (KEN GIGLIOTTI / FREE PRESS ARCHIVES)
His club came within a whisker last year of delivering Winnipeg its first professional sports championship since 1994.
But Mark Chipman's Manitoba Moose came up second to the Hershey Bears in the 2009 Calder Cup final and are now struggling just to make the playoffs in a roller-coaster season that was supposed to be about the Moose taking care of that unfinished business from last year.
Free Press hockey writer Paul Wiecek talked to the Moose owner recently, asking him what's gone wrong with the Moose, what's right with Hershey, whither Cory Schneider, why haven't the Vancouver Canucks helped more and was there really nothing he could have done to re-sign Jason Jaffray and Jason Krog?
FP: Before we talk about your team, what did you think of the sale of the Tampa Bay Lightning for $170 million (last week)?
Chipman: I haven't followed it.
FP: OK, but does that $170-million sale price get us closer or further to an NHL team in Winnipeg?
Chipman: Honest to God, I just don't want to comment on anything that's happening right now. I don't know enough about the transaction so I'm better off not saying anything.
FP: All right, what about your team? There were a lot of high expectations for your club after they made the Calder Cup final last season but this season's been a struggle. How's it looked from the owner's chair?
Chipman: We set high expectations every year. And if I've learned anything over the last 14 years, it's that things don't always go as you hope or expect... We've got a lot of hockey left to play and I have a great deal of confidence in our management and coaches. I've been around long enough to know it hasn't been for lack of trying or planning. We've had some frustrating developments through the year but we're still battling away. In a lot of respects, I think those guys have done a better job this year than last year keeping us in the spot we are."
FP: That sounds counter-intuitive.
Chipman: "You have to remember that last year we got off to a great start. Managing from the front of the pack has its set of challenges but it's probably a better place to be coaching and running from. This year, we had challenges right from Day 1. We didn't start with a couple of guys we hoped would come back. Zing (general manager Craig Heisinger) has been trying all year long to fill those holes. So it's just been a completely different scenario...
"This year has been bump and grind the whole way. If you look at what we did before Christmas, I think it's been pretty remarkable the job that Scott (head coach Scott Arniel) and his guys did just keeping us in the mix. And same thing for Zing and finding guys that could keep us in the playoff picture the whole year. So yeah, it's been frustrating, but at the same time, no one's more frustrated than they are. So it just puts us in the role of being supportive of them...
"We're in this business to win, I don't like losing. And I'm not trying to rationalize it but everyone's trying to win and there's a lot of good teams in this league. That was a tough stretch there but as long as we're playing hard, I'm satisfied. And that's my measuring stick: How hard we compete. I haven't seen anything all year that's given me any concern in that respect."
FP: I'd suggest to you that fans are a bit frustrated with the club this year -- and particularly so when they see that Hershey has gotten better in a year your team has struggled. Do you understand the frustration and how do you explain what's happened to your team versus what's happened with Hershey?
Chipman: "Basically (Hershey) got the vast majority of their team back, including their skill in (forwards Keith and Alexandre) Aucoin and Giroux and (defenceman) Bryan Helmer. And we lost those parts, or a couple of them. If you look carefully at the number of first- and second-rounders on that team, you'll find it's considerably more than ours. So they got a good young team that's getting better. We had to fill some big holes this year and that's as good an explanation as I can offer. We tried to fill those holes with existing guys. It wasn't for lack of trying or lack of a financial commitment on our part. We just were unsuccessful in bringing (Jason Jaffray) Jaff and (Jason Krog) Krogs back and that's left some holes we've been filling in different ways all year."
FP: Was there no amount of money that would have convinced Jaffray and Krog to return to the Moose?
Chipman: "They went for less money, we know that for a fact. We really put our best foot forward in both cases. In the end, it had nothing to do with that, as we were explained by the players and their representatives. They wanted to move on and that's unfortunately one of the things you have to deal with in this business."
FP: Has Vancouver done enough to help your team this year?
Chipman: "I think they have. That's a tough question to answer. Would we have liked to have had more help? Yeah. Probably. But again -- in my estimation it hasn't been for lack of trying on their part. It's not like they turned their back on us. They've tried on a number of occasions to get us some people to help. And for any number of reasons, it just hasn't worked out. That said, we have a long ways to go here, Paul, and no one's throwing up a white flag -- in our organization or theirs."
FP: What's Vancouver telling you about Cory Schneider and the trade deadline?
Chipman: "It's not a conversation I'm having with anyone directly. But I think it's been understood at least since they signed (Roberto) Luongo that (Schneider's) an asset that may in the long term be a part of another team. But that said, he's their third goaltender right now that they have to have. So I think they'll be very thoughtful about Cory's future and I don't think it's an absolute given that he's going to move on. But I think at some point in time, Cory deserves to play in the National Hockey League. I think he's an NHL goaltender... Yeah. I think it's conceivable Cory could move on at the trade deadline but I don't know that for sure. I think it's equally, or even more conceivable, that it doesn't happen until a later date, maybe at the draft."
FP: You'd be comfortable moving forward and making a playoff run this spring with Daren Machesney as your No. 1 guy in net?
Chipman: "Zinger's got a ton of confidence in Machesney and so does Arnie. That's why they went out and got him -- he's a very competent goaltender. But that one's out of our hands -- there's really nothing we can do about what happens with Schneids."
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