Building The Pipeline

As you may be aware by now, the Vancouver Canucks have assembled their best group of prospects in 20 years and the former NHLer has been entrusted with their development. That means the Moose, who won the AHL's North Division pennant in Arniel's first year behind the bench, will be young enough to qualify for day-care subsidies in Manitoba. And that means Arniel has to find the delicate balance between moulding the Canucks' youngsters into professionals while maintaining the Moose's success which is one of the trickiest jobs in hockey.

"We talked about this when I got hired two years ago," said Arniel, the former Moose captain and assistant coach who returned to Winnipeg last season after four years as an assistant with the Buffalo Sabres. "With the NHL the way it is now, you have to build from within. Your future depends on your young guys.

To that end, Arniel and Moose GM Craig Heisinger have become vital cogs in the Canucks' organization. It helps, of course, that Arniel went through a similar process in Buffalo when the Sabres were integrating their massive collection of prospects into the NHL team. But, largely through the efforts of Heisinger, the former Winnipeg Jets' equipment manager, the Moose have created the necessary environment for incubating the Canucks' young talent.

That environment has already helped deliver Kevin Bieksa, Ryan Kesler and Alex Burrows to the big team but now the real test awaits. The goal, according to Canucks GM Dave Nonis, is to create an organization built along the lines of the New Jersey Devils of 10 years ago in which draftees come into a system and are taught a Canucks' way. That, in turn, is dependent on consistency and continuity throughout the organization and that starts with Arniel and his staff.

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