Murray’s Goal: To Be A Cup Contender Again

By Michael Walters

The Anaheim Ducks announced they gave General Manager Bob Murray a two-year contract extension through the 2021-22 NHL season.

Murray held a press conference as he answered several questions discussing the status of the team, the coach, and future.

What type of vision did you have to lay out with ownership?

“There’s been ongoing discussions about where the organization is going, and how we’re going to do it. The goal is to get back to a point where we’re a true Stanley Cup contender. There are playoff teams and Stanley Cup contenders. We want to get back into contention to win a Stanley Cup. That’s what we’re talking about. It’s a little difficult because of injuries. That’s not an excuse. You think you’re going to wait until you get healthy to see exactly how certain things are fitting or not fitting. We may never get healthy, so it’s the business these days in the NHL. Lots of teams have injuries. We have a game plan, and we’re going to go about it.”

Are you a playoff team or a Stanley Cup contender right now?

“I don’t think, at the moment, the way we’re playing, we’re a Stanley Cup contender. Every night you can’t get out-chanced. We have a lot of work to do, on and off the ice.”

Was there any point this season you considered making a coaching change?

“No. I will focus more on the players, how we’re playing, and worry about that at this point in time. I told the coaching staff in the summer some things I wanted to see changed. How we play the game. Some things worked and a lot of things haven’t worked. I have to give them a little bit of time to figure some things out with our group. You can blame some of that on the coaching staff. Some of the things we tried early in the year didn’t work. Some things just didn’t work with our group. That’s not always the coaches’ responsibility when things don’t work. So they need to find a way to make things work with our group. It’s a work in progress. We’re in a transition stage at the moment.”

How would you grade Carlyle’s performance thus far?

“We’re over .500, but, in saying that, we all know goaltending is a huge part of a hockey team, and we have that going forward. You have no starting point without goaltending. Everybody knows that’s a big reason why our record is what it is. Some things have improved. Some things are better. We have to continually strive to play a more up-tempo game. There are lots of ways – and we won’t get into the details of how to do that – but we have to get our players to do things to play a more up-tempo game. It’s not there yet.”

Scoring has been an issue with your team. Are you looking to improve on that front?

“Definitely actively looking to improve. Scoring is up in the game again. It seems we’re going through another era like in the 1980s where there were lots of goals. We brought in Daniel [Sprong] because he likes to shoot and score. That doesn’t mean we’re stopping there. We have to find ways to score more goals. It’s a problem. The power play is an issue. Even as bad as we played last night, we had a chance to get back into the game, but the power play wasn’t very good. It’s on our minds big time.”

Is there something that could trigger you to take action sooner than later?

“Teams are starting to make deals earlier in the year now. I think that has to do with the trade deadline. Things were really quiet because of the Toronto-Nylander situation. Since that has been put to bed, there has been a lot more chatter since that time.”

Analysis

The Anaheim Ducks have been a playoff team for the past several seasons, but not a Cup Contender. Ducks fans have come to expect a solid regular season from Anaheim where the team finishes in first or close to the top in the Pacific Division. When the playoffs come then the Ducks get eliminated and unfortunately, it’s been expected and predicted to happen again this season by our staff. The good thing is Bob Murray realizes this and probably more importantly acknowledges it publicly that the team is not where it needs to be and it will take some serious work to get there.

Murray’s comments about Randy Carlyle indicate that there will not be a coaching change during this season. Jordan Samuels-Thomas and I weighed in with our opinions on the coaching situation and had similar thoughts. The Ducks were on a five-game winning streak until Friday night against Carolina and have moved up towards the top of the Pacific Division. As long as the team can hang around a playoff spot, Murray is inclined to not make a coaching change. He admitted that some things haven’t worked early on and he doesn’t believe that the amount of injuries is a valid excuse. He still thinks the team is in a transition period so the coaching staff can’t be blamed for everything.

In regards to improving the team, Murray is still looking for ways to increase scoring. He plans to be active come the trade deadline, but how active? He makes smaller deals given reason to his “Bargain Bob” nickname, but the chances of making a big move probably won’t happen. Murray likes to go for depth moves. Anaheim has cap space for a big move on paper mainly in part because of Corey Perry being on the long-term injury reserve. He has been working out and he appears to be on schedule to return before the trade deadline. So it wouldn’t be feasible to bring in a high-cost player knowing that Perry’s cap reapplies when he returns unless Murray looks to trade Jakob Silfverberg or Brandon Montour for a similar costing player($3 million). It’s still more likely that Murray stays away from any such trade knowing that Perry’s return is on the horizon.

The Ducks look to be another playoff team, but can they be a serious contender? The team is still without Cam Fowler, Patrick Eaves, Corey Perry, and Korbinian Holzer. Fowler appears to be on track to return in mid-January, while Eaves is out indefinitely with a broken rib and back spasms. If the Ducks can stay healthy then naturally it improves their chances down the stretch, but they will have to do it with Carlyle behind the bench.

What do you think of the Murray extension? Vote and comment here: Murray Poll

Note: Quotes were provided by the Anaheim Ducks.

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December 8th, 2018