Local product Dean Stewart has signed on for another season in Manitoba.
The Manitoba Moose have announced the signing of defenceman Dean Stewart.
Agreeing to a standard one-year, American Hockey League contract, the 25-year-old blueliner has re-upped for his third season in the Moose antlers.
The Portage la Prairie product has played the majority of his hockey within the province following his four-year, NCAA career at the University of Nebraska-Omaha.
Suiting up for the MJHL championship and RBC Cup winning Portage Terriers, the 6-foot-2, 200-pound defender went south in 2016, where he served as captain in the final season of his four-year stay with the Mavericks.
Originally drafted 188th overall by the Arizona Coyotes in the 2016 NHL Draft, Stewart put up seven goals, 45 points and 93 penalty minutes in 130 NCAA games, before turning pro with the ECHL's Wichita Thunder in 2020.
Stewart then registered 36 points in 53 games before making his AHL debut in the 2021-22 season. In 81 games over the past two seasons for the Moose, Stewart has two goals, 27 points and 30 penalty minutes.
He finished third in scoring among the team's rookies last season, while taking home the 2022-23 Moose Rookie of the Year award.
Alongside that of Stewart, the Moose also announced the signing of fellow Manitoba-made defenceman Dawson Barteaux, of nearby Foxwarren.