Why is Bryan Murray still in Ottawa? It's complicated

Im probably wrong but I think you mean to say Anders *Forsberg?

I don’t think that we actually overvalued the team the year we traded for cullen and sutton. We lost to the defending stanley cup champions in overtime of Game 6. Really it should have been game 7 because we played an additional game and a half worth of overtimes in that series. I still FIRMLY believe that we would have beat the penguins with Kovalev, Michalek and Kuba. We lost Kovalev in the last game of the season and Michalek in Game 1 of the series. I don’t think Murray could honestly see it coming that two of his top 6 forwards would get hurt before the series really started. I think without the moves he made we would have been in rough shape to play the penguins.

With those two (Michalek and Kovalev) back into the series I am sure we would have at least made the 2nd round where we would have played montreal (and I think we could have beat Halak).

Were they really that bad or were they victims of the wheels falling off anyway?

Maybe the real issue is that no one recognized how bad this team actually was … ’til this spring

I predict that the spring of 2011 will be considered a major turning point in Sens history. Winning a Calder cup and the 2011 entry draft adding several top six forwards prospects to a squad with several high end defensive prospects, and a bonafide goalie prospect, means the future is brighter for the Sens than it has been for many years. The light at the end of the tunnel is growing, rather than narrowing, as it was in 2007.

It will take a few years to reach any contender status, but it is going to be a HELL of a lot more fun to watch than the putrid efforts we saw the aging, diminishing core put in, with the few pluggers Murray could get together to complete the roster, for the last couple years. The man should get a metal for being able to actually ice a somewhat respectable NHL team in the shambles Muckler left it in. I understand Muckler was gunning for a cup at the time (and he came within a few non-calls against the Ducks from getting it) so it’s somewhat excusable, but the demise of Ottawa’s contender status should rest mostly on Muckler.

I’m pretty sure the Bruins watched the ‘07 SCF tapes before the Vancouver series. Want to beat a smaller market Canadian team in the finals? Cross check, trip, spear, charge, board, and generally bully them every chance you can get. The refs will only call a few of the blatant ones, and you’ll likely draw matching penalties and a diving penalty or two in the process. Break their will to play after a few games and the cup is yours.

Nice balanced view of BM’s record thus far. A part of me hope that BM will stick around after his contract to look over the scouting dept and let another GM put the finishing touches on the team. My dream scenario would be Chiarreli come back home and be the GM. (Wishful thinking on my part). Most likely Tim will inherit the GM position.

I agree with the posters here who have pointed that out. If two of it’s top 4 forwards had not gone down to injury it is very probable that they would have pushed past Pittsburgh and gone even further in the playoffs. and don’t forget THEY MADE THE PLAYOFFS! The only real failure was with LecLaire, but it was well known that he had the skill and his health was the gamble. So that was a bad trade. Wait … IT WAS AN AWESOME TRADE! A blessing in disguise. first, it got us Lehner. Second, it assured that a decent team tumbled to the depths of the cellar , yielding one hell of a draft harvest. So what was Murray’s bad move?

…he is over his head in the cap era.

The cynic in me says that Murray is here because he’s “local” (how Shawville is local I don’t know…it’s not like it’s within a 10 minute drive from the downtown core or even inlcuded with Ottawa city limits) and people in this town cling to local people, again not sure why as success (Stanley Cup championship, or at the VERY LEAST Conference Finals) should be the barometer.

Back to my first point, Murray is over his head in the cap era.
He just seems incapable of saying NO to anyone that asks for a no-trade clause, a long-term deal or a one-way contract. This weakness will come back to haunt Murray if it hasn’t already. I yearn for a GM that steps up to a player in this situation:

“Hey Murray I wanna NTC and a 3 year deal and lots of money.”
‘No.’
“What does that word mean? I’m a star NHLer.”
“No.”
“I’ll play elsewhere!”
(Opens the door)
“Bye!”

Wouldn’t that just make most players shit their pants, especially the ones that aren’t established here? It might also make a few of the already too comfortable players (Phillips, I’m looking at you) understand that this is a performance-based business, not a family Home Hardware store. Neil should not have a NTC, limited or no. Neither should Gonchar or Phillips. Those things should go to FRANCHISE PLAYERS, not every Tom, Dick and Kuba. I’d really like to see someon else take care of contracts.

My second issue with Murray…he talks to much and shoots from the hip too much.
Examples:

One day last spring I turn on Team 1200 and I hear Murray RANTING about Roy MacGregor and Wayne Scanlan. I’m a little embarrassed at this, to be honest. I don’t know if Murray knows but Roy has been covering sports for about as long as Murray’s been involved in them. He’s a pro. If he writes something it is not to stir the pot, but rather to inform and offer a fact-based opinion. (Yes, I know “opinion” and “fact” don’t always coincide, but in this case the man’s rep precedes him.) Same with Scanlan.
It says a lot about Murray that the people in the local media that give him the most rope are Don Brennan and the Sun…

A more insidious, well perhaps not insidious but striking perhaps, was the coaches.
He never stood up for them. Instead it was like “Well they were the right coaches at the time, blah blah!” instead of standing up for his men. And this has come up over and over, Murray just has a tendency to let self-preservation instinct kick into overdrive instead of doing the right thing and taking the high road.

Just recently, when he was addressing Jagr he said something along the lines that well…Jagr probably doesn’t want to play with young kids, but the Flyers HAVE young players AND Jagr is going to be a freaking Hall of Famer! It’s always this stirring the pot crap and it’s tiresome. I WISH we had a GM that just did his freaking job and kept it under wraps unless a publick announcement needed to be made. It’s cringe-inducing hearing Murray sometimes.

Don’t want to dredge TOO MUCH into the past but anyone remember Roy A. Mlakar?
That guy, and I met him multiple times, could sell a freezer to penguin colonies in Antarctica. He had charm, he had the ability to connect with you and he was seen in charity orgs and ops all over. You really felt like you were close to the Senators when he was around, you felt that connection. I don’t know whether it’s the fact Murray is a poor public speaker or just that he doesn’t self-censor eough, but when he steps to the podium I just wait for the other shoe to drop and he isn’t very inspiring.

I’m also leery of the fact that the team may just be wallowing in perpetual-rebuild mode where Murray doesn’t have to win to keep his job…but that’s another chapter for another day I guess.

TLDR:
-Get someone else to ink deals, learn to say no.
-Would be great if he said less, or even said what was absolutely necessary and nothing more.
-Reinstate class and professionalism at the top, this team has been to much of a circus the psat five to seven years.