News Article: Murray likely to step down after season, will pick his own successor

[DrunkUncleDenis]

Responses in bold..

I agree that BMGM has put the Sens in a terrific spot to succeed going forward. The team has some really good pieces in place, and they are mostly young:

G - Anderson, Lehner
D - Karlsson, Ceci, Cowen...(gotta re-sign Methot)
C - Turris, Zibanejad, Lazar, Pageau
RW - Ryan, Stone, Chiasson
LW - MacArthur, Hoffman

Prospects - Puempel, Prince, Englund, Wikstrand etc...

I'll argue that Chiasson and Pageau aren't key pieces going forward, or players that we must retain to keep the core in place. Overall I agree that there are some good pieces brought in by Murray, but we shouldn't ignore the fact that he also was responsible for bringing in and (re-)signing the dead weight players you outline below.

If I were the GM going into the trade deadline, I would do as much as I possibly could to get rid of the dead weight players who have contracts beyond this season - namely Phillips, Legwand, Neil, Greening, Michalek and even Smith. Those players almost count for $16 million on next year's salary cap...crazy. Moving out some of those pieces would also make it easier on the budget to re-sign one of the few top 4 d-men we have - Marc Methot.

16m is a staggering figure. Unfortunately I think the Michalek signing was one of necessity, and Murray incorrectly believed Milo could slot into the top 6/9 after a strong finish. Not to say that I didn't think so either, I thought Milo and Zib would be together on the second line with Ryan or Stone, but that's why he gets paid millions and we don't. I think we all had higher expectations of Legwand. I'd hate to see Phillips go. Greening.. well that was a disaster from the day we signed him. That one is also 100% on BM.

I want the next GM to have NHL experience...and I want that person making the decisions heading into the trade deadline. The big criticism I have of Murray as GM is that he falls in love with his own players, and gives term to bottom 6 forwards and bottom pair d-men. Again - I think Murray has put this team in a good place to succeed moving forward, but I'd like the transition to a new GM happen sooner than later so that these key decisions can be made with an objective point of view.

Yep, we need a GM from outside the organization, with lots of experience. I'd actually like one that is a bit more cut throat than Murray. He always caves and gives more term than necessary to non-star players, which in the long run is more damaging than giving them more money. And I definitely agree that Murray should be kicking tires now and finding a GM that will be ready to go once the season ends. The new guy needs time before the draft and UFA to make a clear plan of action.

I'd like to see Pierre McGuire get a GM job in the NHL...for any of the other 29 NHL teams.

 

[18Hossa]

Worth noting that most of the time it's the agm that does contract talks. Like how TM did the greening and cowen contracts with bm signing off on them.

 

[Vesa Awesaka]

I was really surprised to find out L.A doesnt give any type of NTC to its players. That is insane. Murray has basically gifted most vets NTCs. Also why do people like McGuire?

Man... i looked through the trade proposal threads from last year and i died a little inside at many times stone and hoffman were brought up. Thank god murray is gm and not any of us including me. lol

 

[SensEnforcer]

Correct me if im wrong but doesnt Pierre believe in trading everything for big name players?

 

[Vesa Awesaka]

Correct me if im wrong but doesnt Pierre believe in trading everything for big name players?

I know Pierre was called a laughing stock by the hartford captain after he was fired from his coach/gm positions with the team. Said not a single player respected him and other players laughed at him. He also got into trouble with some sort of tampering charge and he had to forfeit his salary left on his contract after he was fired from the whalers.

I also know he gets paid to be opinionated on t.v so no matter what he says i think we have to take it with a little less value. Even if he said he'd trade all his first round picks for the next 5 years for thornton for example.... i doubt hes not that irrational.

 

[operasen]

Mentioned it elsewhere,

If Murray steps down after the season. There will be a new GM at the Draft. If that is not Lee or Dorian, we they even still be around?

New GM will (should) have a big impact on the team they want to build. I hope the continuity continues and you are correct about Legwand, Neil, Greening, Smith, Michalek, etc are gone.

I'd keep Pageau up the rest of the season (ala Stone and Hoffman last year) to get him experience. Next training camp he will know where he fits. I see him as a RW - potential heart and soul guy like Gallaghar, St Louis.

I'd deal Methot if the No1 or top prospect was in play. His Country-Club non-hockey life reminds me of Redden, Emery and a few others that brought us down.

 

[Micklebot]

I was really surprised to find out L.A doesnt give any type of NTC to its players. That is insane. Murray has basically gifted most vets NTCs. Also why do people like McGuire?

Man... i looked through the trade proposal threads from last year and i died a little inside at many times stone and hoffman were brought up. Thank god murray is gm and not any of us including me. lol

LA doesn't give out NTC to it's players because it doesn't need to at the moment. They are in a desireable location with a winning team that gives you a chance to win the cup every year. Should they start losing on a regular basis, they may have to adjust that policy, but right now they can attract the players they need through other means.

Tbh though, imo it's foolish to not use all the tools at your disposal; if LA could lower the cap hit of say Doughty, Kopitar and Quick 10% by offering them NTC or partial NTC, they'd have more cap space to upgrade depth positions. Self imposed handicaps seem like a bad idea to me, though there may be secondary benefits, like a culture of no one is bigger than the team or something.