Nolan Baumgartner proved the value of actions, not words, when he was acquired at the trade deadline by the Manitoba Moose.
The team, down 2-1 to the Syracuse Crunch in its AHL North Division playoff series, is hopeful for a similar impact when the veteran defenceman returns for Game 4 on Friday night at MTS Centre.
With Sergei Zubov's health improving, the NHL's Dallas Stars sent Baumgartner back to the Moose on Wednesday. They had recalled him as a mere insurance policy two weeks ago, a serious blow to Manitoba chances.
When Baumgartner joined the Moose in late February, they went on a 14-2-2 run including a club-record 10-game winning streak. Since he went to Dallas during the last week of the AHL regular season, Manitoba lost four of six, though three of those have been in overtime.
Baumgartner's return figures to be both a mental and physical boost for the Moose.
"I think we'll get both, probably 50-50," Moose head coach Scott Arniel said Wednesday. "Nolan will give us patience on the ice, his ability to slow the game down in a good sense when things get a little wild.
"He calms people on the ice with him and he'll help our power play. He's been here, and shown what he can do to help us win. For (Baumgartner), too, we have to make sure we look at it as a team and make sure it's not all on his shoulders."
The timing of Baumgartner's recall two weeks ago was poor. So were the optics of it. The Stars, who had dissed the 32-year-old Calgary native all season long, suddenly needed him when the Moose were finished paying their part of the loan agreement arrived at in February.
No cash will be coming back to the Moose for the inconvenience. After all, Baumgartner's contract belongs to Dallas, which may do as it sees fit.
"I know (Dallas co-GM) Les Jackson as well as anyone in hockey and I know he did not feel good about this," Moose GM Craig Heisinger said Wednesday. "When he tells me something, I take it to the bank."
It's possible, too, that Dallas's decision to recall Baumgartner was a minor reward for the stellar job he did with Manitoba.
Whatever the reason, it's passed for the moment and Manitoba's lineup might be as full as it's been in five months on Friday night. There's a good chance winger Jason Jaffray will make his return after missing five weeks with a shoulder injury.
The boost will be needed after Manitoba gave a tentative effort in Tuesday's overtime loss, a game in which seven power plays when for naught.
"I thought last night we got away from a lot of things we were doing in Syracuse, got a bit sloppy at times, maybe made it a little more difficult than it needed to be," Arniel said.
The coach agreed his skaters didn't look all that confident with the puck on Tuesday.
"I don't know if it's not confident than maybe just not wanting (the puck)," he said. "I don't know if that's the same but it seemed like we didn't want it, whether we were getting rid of it as fast as we could, maybe afraid to make a mistake or maybe it was nerves, I'm not sure what.
"It's funny because down in Syracuse where supposedly the rink is a bit smaller and it's an intense building, we did a better job of holding onto pucks down there."
After the first three games of the series featured nothing but overtime, Arniel gave the bulk of his troops the day off on Wednesday.
The only Tuesday game participants to skate on Wednesday were goalie Cory Schneider and defencemen Zack FitzGerald and Jimmy Sharrow.
NOTES: The Moose also brought back forward Mark Derlago on Tuesday. Derlago, who had five points in four games earlier, was allowed to go back to Bakersfield (ECHL) last month and stayed with his team until it was eliminated by Victoria on Tuesday. Derlago, however, may not be able to play for the Moose this week. By Friday, the team could be hovering as low as three absentees from its deadline roster -- its lowest level since before Christmas -- and three are required for an emergency that allows access to pro-tryout or reserve players like Derlago, Greg Rallo, Jimmy Sharrow of Daniel Rahimi.
tim.campbell@freepress.mb.ca
