The 27-year-old has signed for a fifth season with the club and will re-join Marc LeFebvre’s squad, eight years after he first brought Craig to the Dundee.
Last season saw Moore begin the campaign with Nottingham Panthers before making a mid-season move back to Dundee to help tighten things up on the back end.
In 25 games with Nottingham, Craig recorded five assists and only six penalty minutes, then added a further two assists and four penalty minutes during his time with the Stars.
The blueliner from Kirkcaldy has now racked up 208 Elite League appearances for the Stars, with 32 points (4G, 28A) and 108 penalty minutes, across his previous four seasons.
After playing his junior hockey in Canada and the United States, LeFebvre brought in the Scot for two seasons and in his second year, Moore was part of the first ever Stars team to reach the Playoff Finals Weekend.
Craig has also spent time with four other Elite League clubs as after making his professional debut in Dundee, he then joined Cardiff Devils for two seasons and had a short spell with Fife Flyers.
In 2019, he completed the Scottish hat-trick by icing with Glasgow Clan for one year and after COVID-19, he returned to Dundee and helped the team to reach their second ever, playoff semi-finals.
LEFEBVRE ON MOORE
Once Moore’s extension was finalised, Stars Director of Hockey Operations and Head Coach, Marc LeFebvre, said: “It was very important to get Mooresy back on board, I brought him on eight years ago now to be a rookie and for his first year in the Elite League.
“So, I have worked with him before for two years and it is good to see his growth.
“I know he has bounced around the league a bit but him being back in Dundee is going to be a big thing for him, he is probably going to be more comfortable and play the way he wants to play, but also he knows what I am all about as well.
“We had a good relationship beforehand and I am excited to work with him again.”
LeFebvre continued: “On the ice, he is going to have that freedom to play, the style that we want to play means we want our defensemen up on the rush, creating those four-man attacks and if you look at any NHL game nowadays and a lot of leagues across Europe, it is an open style now with defensemen joining attacks.
“So, with his skating ability, he should be able to get up the ice with our forwards and attack off the rush, so we would like to get a bit more offence from him this season.”
“We also want him to provide that veteran leadership on the backend, because now he has had a lot of experience throughout the league, played on different teams and under different coaches, so we are looking forward to him brining that to the table.”
CRAIG ON STAYING WITH THE STARS
After signing up for his fifth season in Dundee, Craig said: “I am delighted, it is always nice have things wrapped up pretty quick in summer.
“I spoke to Marc pretty quickly and from playing for him before, it was obviously nice to be speaking to a guy you already know and we talked things through quickly and got it all sorted.
“I have played under quite a few coaches now, so it is nice to be somewhere again where they have the coach that you played for before, so you know what is expected but I am sure things have changed, in terms of the way Marc runs things now might be different than he did seven or eight years ago when he was in Dundee.
“Although, you have that baseline of that you know each other on that level, which helps and for me personally, I got a lot of opportunities through Marc before, so having him back in a huge positive for myself and I was super happy when he reached out.”
Listen to the full interviews below!
In his career so far, Craig has featured in 561 matches, recorded 44 goals, 98 assists and collected 273 penalty minutes, while also playing in 34 playoff games and scoring nine points (3G, 6A) with 17 penalty minutes.
Craig is our 5th signing of the summer and joins Drydn Dow, Lucas Brine, Kris Inglis and Jonathan McBean on the roster for next season.
Moore will again wear #65 for the Stars and you can sponsor his equipment for this season right now, click HERE.
To see Craig’s career stats on Elite Prospects click HERE.
All images: Derek Black.
