The Manitoba Moose will begin a new season on Oct. 12 — their 25th since coming to Winnipeg for the 1996-97 International Hockey League season — with an interesting mix of promising high-round draft picks, still-young returnees, and veterans.
The Winnipeg Jets’ American Hockey League affiliate were awful during the first half of 2023-24 but rebounded in the second half to finish fifth in the Central Division with a 34-35-2-1 record and make the Calder Cup Playoffs. However, they were quickly swept in the best-of-three preliminary round by the Texas Stars.
Head coach Mark Morrison should have a motivated bunch under his wing this season, as a number of players will be looking to make the next steps in their young careers and catch the eye of the big club’s brass.
Chaz Lucius
Is Chaz Lucius a write-off? This season could answer that question.
The 2021 18th-overall pick, due to his ever-lengthening injury history, is increasingly looking like a compromised asset. Last season, his first full professional campaign, he had to have season-ending ankle surgery after recording 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) with the Moose in 17 games.
It was the forward’s fourth season-ending surgery in as many years, all of which have limited him to 71 games since the start of 2021-22 and have cost him significant development time.
In January, 2023, while playing with the Portland Winterhawks after winning bronze with the United States at the World Juniors and his first stint with the Moose, he suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery and ended his season. It was terrible timing as he was dominating with the Western Hockey League club, recording five goals and 10 assists for 15 points in just six games.
In 2019, he underwent a knee surgery that involved replacing the bone marrow with bone marrow from his back and the recovery required him to spend six weeks in a wheelchair and another six weeks in a heavy brace, “basically learning how to walk all over again.” (From ‘Jets prospect Chaz Lucius proving he can get through anything,’ Winnipeg Sun, Sept. 13, 2023.)
In 2020-21, after being drafted by the Jets, he sustained a hand injury and then had to have an ankle surgery which ended his first season with the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers after just 24 games.
Lucius skated at the Jets Development Camp in early July in a yellow non-contact jersey and was said to be slightly ahead of schedule in his rehab and recovery process.
“I would have loved…
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