VANCOUVER — Nolan Baumgartner was a leader when he played in Winnipeg and now he’s a leader behind the Vancouver Canucks bench.
The relatively new Canucks assistant coach is having the time of his life working alongside bench bossman Travis Green, and he credits those years he spent manning the Manitoba Moose blue line with instilling in him much of what he has to offer at the big-league level.
“I was around so many great players, great hockey people — just terrific people, in general — back in the Moose days,” Baumgartner said Wednesday, following Vancouver’s practice at the Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre on the University of British Columbia campus.