Today, the Manitoba Moose, the AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks, announced they have signed Craig Heisinger to a multi-year contract extension.
Heisinger enters his fourth full season in his role as general manager/vice-president, hockey operations. “Zinger” played a big role in the turn-around of the Manitoba Moose in 2004-05 from a non-playoff team the year before to a berth in the American Hockey League’s final four. The Winnipeg native was largely responsible for key signings such as Lee Goren, Wade Flaherty, Nolan Baumgartner and Josh Green last off-season.
Heisinger was appointed general manager of the Moose back on July 15, 2002, succeeding current Moose head coach Randy Carlyle. In that time, Zinger has amassed a record of 113-94-19-14 in 240 games. In his previous three seasons in the Moose front office, Heisinger worked as the assistant general manager to Carlyle. Prior to the 1999-2000 season, “Zinger” was the equipment manager with both the Moose and the Winnipeg Jets for 11 years.
Heisinger received his start in hockey as the equipment manager with the Fort Garry South Blues of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League during the 1978-79 season. He spent the next eight years in the Western Hockey League with the Winnipeg Warriors and Brandon Wheat Kings. In 1988, after his final year in Brandon, he represented Canada as the trainer for the gold-medal-winning World Junior Team in Moscow. After the Championships, Heisinger joined the Winnipeg Jets as assistant equipment manager.
In 1990, he became the Jets’ senior equipment manager and was with the team until their move to Phoenix in 1996. In 1997, he worked with the gold-medal-winning Canadian team at the World Championships and in 1998, he was selected as the equipment manager for the Canadian Olympic Team in Nagano, Japan.
