Jake Heisinger, who helped build the Winnipeg Ice team that won the Western Hockey League regular-season title in 2022-23, has been hired as the new associate general manager of the Victoria Royals.
Heisinger was the vice-president of hockey operations and assistant general manager of the Ice since 2020.
The lowly Royals, who have missed the playoffs the past two seasons and placed last in the WHL before that in the bubble season, are hoping some of Heisinger’s decision-making success flows over to them. Heisinger was a key part of the Ice scouting unit that acquired first-round NHL draft picks Matthew Savoie, Connor Geekie, Zach Benson and Carson Lambos.
“It was an easy decision for me to join the Royals. They are in a fantastic market, with a great fan base,” Heisinger said in a statement.
“Our goal is for the Victoria Royals to be one of the top programs in the entire Canadian Hockey League. We want to be a fast, skilled team that works hard and competes every night. We’re going to do our best here right out of the gate to make sure that there is some internal competition to ensure that players are pushing each other.”
Heisinger started with the Ice club as the hockey operations co-ordinator in 2017 when the franchise was located in Cranbrook. The Ice have moved again and will be the Wenatchee Wild in Washington state for the 2023-24 season, where the club faces a major rebuild following the graduation of the several of its 2022-23 star players to pro hockey. Not helping the rebuild is the late-season trade that sent Vancouver Giants captain and Canadian world junior champion Zack Ostapchuk to the Ice for two players and the Ice’s first-round WHL prospects draft picks in 2024, 2025 and 2026. The blockbuster move proved in vain as the Ice failed to win the WHL playoff championship, and did not advance to the Memorial Cup CHL championship tournament, while emptying the cupboard for future seasons.
Heisinger is the son of Craig Heisinger, assistant GM and director of hockey operations for the Winnipeg Jets of the NHL, and GM of the Manitoba Moose of the AHL. The elder Heisinger was a regular visitor to Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre during the years the Victoria Salmon Kings of the ECHL were the farm team to the AHL Moose in the Vancouver Canucks’ minor-pro system.
It is the second front-office hire announced by the Royals this month as owner Graham Lee looks to turn the fortunes of his flagging club. Joey Poljanowski was recently announced as the new vice-president of hockey operations and comes over from his previous position as manager of hockey operations with the Arizona Coyotes of the NHL.
“[Heisinger] is an excellent talent evaluator and has a significant background in building winning franchises, as was showcased in his success as one of the primary architects of the Winnipeg Ice,” Poljanowski said in a statement.
Dan Price, who held the title of Royals general manager, will now focus solely on his role as head coach.
The Royals open the regular season Sept. 22 at the Langley Events Centre against the Giants.
and Sept. 23 at Angels of the Winds Arena in Everett, Washington, against the Silvertips. The home openers at the Memorial Centre are Sept. 29-30 against the Prince George Cougars.
