Foxwarren’s Dawson Barteaux will be bringing a little more local flavour to the Manitoba Moose next season.
The blueliner recently signed a one-year contract for his second homecoming in the span of just three years.
“I’m very lucky to have a very tight-knit family,” said Barteaux. “And it’ll be very nice to kinda be able to spend more time hopefully with them.”
It’s almost like deja vu for Barteaux. In 2020, the WHL’s Winnipeg Ice acquired Barteaux from the Red Deer Rebels, only to have COVID ruin the homecoming with the cancellation of the WHL season.
“Being at home is something that I was very interested in,” he said. “And I love being where I’m from and very proud of that. So, very excited.”
The 23-year-old will now be suiting up for one of the teams he rooted on as a youngster.
“Being to lots of Moose games as well growing up whenever you could,” Barteaux said. “Getting to the city to watch some pro hockey was a lot of fun, and a highlight of my childhood.”
Barteaux, who is currently enjoying his summer in Clear Lake, was selected by the Dallas Stars in the sixth round of the 2018 NHL Draft.
He spent parts of the last three seasons with the AHL’s Texas Stars but ended up spending the majority of last year in the ECHL.
“It was tough that it didn’t happen, but I just kinda put my head down and worked my heart out,” said Barteaux.
“Obviously that’s where I wanted to be, but I just kinda kept to myself and just worked as hard as I could. It was great being apart of the Idaho Steelheads. I had a great year.”
Barteaux was eventually called up to the Stars in the post-season where he appeared in five Calder Cup playoff games. He finally got a taste of some real post-season action after not playing a single playoff game since 2019.
And now that he has an AHL deal with the Moose, the hope is he can parlay that into an NHL contract with the Winnipeg Jets down the road.
“Just working on defending really hard,” he said. “I think that’s going to be a big part of my game. Making sure my first pass is a good one.
“That’s always the goal to make that next step after this one.”