Manitoba Moose

The muscle is established and now it's time to work on the moxie.

This is the challenge for Manitoba Moose right-winger Tommy Maxwell, an assignment that doesn't start with next Friday's season-opener against Houston but one that went into play with last Monday's start of training camp.

Maxwell, 23, came to the Moose last January for a look-see after being buried in Hershey's depth chart and toiling away in South Carolina of the ECHL.

That he stayed for the duration has to be read as an endorsement of his job -- hitting people, creating energy and yes, fighting -- but it became a tenuous lineup spot once the playoffs approached.

It's an inherent unfairness in the way many seasons go, that the much-loved and reliable tough guy is the victim of a diminished role in the spring.

"The toughest thing about the guys that play that physical role, that guys who you need to be a big part of your regular season, well, the coaches, the way you play, we didn't want to get caught up in the fighting side of things," Moose coach Scott Arniel said Wednesday as camp continued at the MTS Centre. "We wanted to be the ones on the power play. It was especially against Toronto (in the playoffs) last year.

"Now, you ask these guys to stop doing that. We took him right out of the lineup at times. No slight on Tom, but we wanted more skill in there. He still has to learn a lot about the game. He's gotten better. I like how he's come in here this camp and recognized that nothing's guaranteed, that he's got to work for a spot."

That work for Maxwell will almost certainly continue this weekend in Abbotsford, B.C., where Moose hopefuls will play a pair of exhibition games against the Heat.

The conversations with and about him on Wednesday also revealed a tacit admission that he wasn't exactly or always hurt during last spring's playoffs. He played just one post-season game, was jockeyed on and off the injured list as the Moose found ways to get their reserve-list players into action, just like AHL teams have done for eons.

"He could get over (the injury), remember?" Arniel smiled at one point Wednesday.

Maxwell took no offence in taking that for the team last spring.

"Any time you can go through a playoff run like that, get to sit there and experience what the guys are going through, see what they say to each other and how they're affected by a win or affected by a loss, it makes you a better person," he said. "Hopefully I can get into that situation this year, help the team win."

He did contribute in 36 important regular-season games to help the Moose finish first overall, compiling five points and 72 penalty minutes.

In the post-season, he was a regular on game days with the black aces.

"We tried to make it as fun as possible," said the native of Spokane, Wash., who had a winning scrap Wednesday in an intra-squad game. "Everybody still has a little hope you'd still get in there, so everybody's working hard, but you'd also want to come back, be part of the next year."

Next year's here and Maxwell thinks he sees the way to an increased role that's more than just fisticuffs.

"I don't think Arnie likes it if you go out there and fight for no reason," he said. "I think he's more a guy that if one of your teammates gets hit or needs someone to stand up for him, then you need to be there for him.

His skating ability puts him in position to be that effective and Arniel said it will be reliability, not fists, that determine Maxwell's playing time.

"I never go down that road about guys fighting," the coach said. "That's one tough job. Me, I want to be able to play him in every situation, even when the clock is a minute to go in a period and his line is out there."