Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray had a media availability this morning to provide his own commentary and assessments of the team’s play through the first 21 games.
I often find Bryan Murray’s interviews to be littered with decent nuggets of information and thankfully, this one was no exception to the rule. It was particularly refreshing because of late, I’ve grown accustomed to seeing Pierre Dorion serve as kind of the de facto spokesperson for the hockey ops department since Murray’s bout with colon cancer became public knowledge.
Following assistant general Tim Murray’s departure to Buffalo and his promotion to an assistant general manager position here in Ottawa, I’ve noticed an evolution to Dorion wherein it seems like most of his interviews now lack the frankness and raw commentary that I used to really enjoy. Once in a while there are there still moments where he reverts – take his comments on that article by Don Brennan on the status of the Marc Methot negotiations – but lately, it just feels like he’s going out of his way to be a company man or protect this team’s play or image.
So with that in mind, this interview with Murray was worth listening to because he didn’t hold anything back. When asked about the state of this team’s defence, he referred to it as “disturbing” and credited play of this team’s goaltenders and the number of times this team faced another team’s backup goaltender as the reasons why the Senators are where they are in the standings.
Anyways, the Senators’ official website published video of Murray’s availability and it can be viewed on their website or via the embedded video adorning the top of this post. And as an aside, I didn’t even notice it during the interview because I just had the audio on in the background, but one astute Twitter follower pointed the inadvertent but hilarious backdrop for the interview. If you’re into watching Bryan Murray talk in front of a bunch of artsy nude male drawings, now’s your chance.
The transcript of the audio is below. As always, my thoughts are in bold.
On his assessment of the team through the first 21 games…
“Well, I like the fact that we can play against good hockey teams and be more than competitive some nights. I don’t like our hockey club when we are inconsistent and I think we’ve shown signs of that at times as well. You have a game, a winnable game, and it’s a little bit like last year where we could get two points and we don’t. Maybe (it’s) the youth in our group. Maybe it’s the way we play some nights or the motivation some nights, but I think the ability level and I think we showed it against St. Louis is that when we’re motivated to play hard, we play hard and we play well. We have guys who can put the puck in the net.”
I’m loathe to criticize the work rates of professional athletes. They all work hard to some varying degree, but they don’t necessarily all work smartly or cohesively as a unit – whether you want to blame the coaching staff, the assembled personnel, or both is up to you.
Personally, I believe the talent level of this team warrants come criticism and it’s been compounded somewhat by some lineup and usage decisions from the coaching staff that I have outlined in previous posts and will get to a little later in this post.
On whether there’s a particular area that he thinks he needs to improve…
“I don’t know if there’s a particular person or core (that needs improving), but our play in our own end is disturbing at times. We don’t defend well. I think we defend the initial rush pretty well, but the turnovers or the second chances, we get running (around) too much and trying to help the other guy too often. I think it’s just a matter of calming down a little more often and making the simple play to get the puck going. If we do that, I think our team, first of all the shots against will come down dramatically, I believe. Secondly, I don’t think the goals and the effort that we have to put in some nights to play well will have to be at the same level. Right now, we give up and second and third chances that we don’t have to.”
It’s great to finally hear someone from the organization finally admit publicly that this team’s been a defensive mess. Hopefully last night’s game is the start of some trend, but through the first quarter of the season the Senators have been plagued by poor puck possession rates (47.25 CF% at 5v5) while allowing 34.9 shots against per game – the league’s second highest rate that trails only a historically bad Buffalo Sabres team.
Interestingly, Murray’s comments about the second and third chances don’t jive with the message that the team was putting out earlier in the season about the quantity of the shots against not being a legitimate concern if the quality of shots were manageable.
I know it’s probably tiresome to repeatedly listen to me bang the drum and lend support to Patrick Wiercioch’s case for playing more. I know he’s not hockey Jesus and has some limitations of his own, but when the team’s consistently been plagued by their inability to retrieve the puck and get it moving quickly the other way, Wiercioch can at least help in those facets of the game.
And considering how much Karlsson’s numbers have been dragged down by his defensive partners, I just don’t understand Paul MacLean’s reluctance to play Wiercioch or at least give him the opportunity to provide a similar playing style to Filip Kuba as Karlsson’s partner. Wiercioch may not be fleet of foot or an overly physical presence, but he plays a positional game and provides a strong outlet option. Thus far, MacLean only turns to a Wiercioch/Karlsson pairing when the team needs offence. I just wish he’d take the experiment one step further, but with Marc Methot returning shortly, I don’t think he’ll get that chance.
On how happy he must be with the play of his goaltenders then…
“They’ve been the stars, of course. We’ve had maybe one or two games where the goaltenders haven’t been the star, but other than that, I think over the course of the first 21 games they’ve been outstanding. Both of them. I think they’ve won games. I think we fooled ourselves a little bit early on and played a couple of teams that had backup goaltenders in and our goaltending, as a group, were better than them and we ended up winning the game. I think now we’re settling in to see that we’re going to meet the good teams and the good goaltender on the other team and our goaltenders will have to continue to carry the ball a lot.”
Going into tonight’s games, the Senators’ save percentage at 5v5 this season has been a robust 92.73 percent. Only the defending Stanley Cup champion Los Angeles Kings (92.96) have enjoyed better goaltending to this point.
Piggybacking Don Brennan’s work tracking the number of backups the Senators have faced this season, Ottawa has faced the opposition’s backup goaltender (note: as a starter) in nine of their first 21 games. Their record in these nine games is 5-3-1 meaning that in games in which the Senators have faced the opposition’s number one to start a game, they have a record of 5-4-3.
On whether the goaltenders will continue to share the net as well…
“I think so. I think both of them have that mentality right now. They’re good working partners. I believe they both have great respect for what the other guy does. I think there will be a time late in the year where Paul (MacLean) will probably have to make a decision if we’re going into the playoffs that he’ll want to play a guy a little bit more than the other. But, the thing that I really like about it is that we do have two guys. We’re not giving games away because we’re playing a second guy who can’t win you that game.”
Considering Ottawa continues to split the net with Anderson and Lehner, it won’t come as a surprise to hear reports that teams are interested in trying to acquire a young goaltender like Lehner to become their number one. Today on TSN 1200, Darren Dreger mentioned the Edmonton Oilers’ interest in Lehner. Of course that doesn’t meant that the Senators are interested in moving him. It simply means that he’s a desirable commodity to have.
On American Thanksgiving signifying a time when teams outside the playoff picture will have a harder time getting into it and whether it means he’ll be more active in trying to shake things up…
“Well actually after this today, we’re – coaches, myself and Pierre Dorion – going to meet and we’re going to talk about exactly that. We’ll get everybody’s opinion, observation, what they think our strength is and weakness is, and where we can address it or how can we address it or try to address it. As I said at the offset, I like our group. I think we’ve got a couple of young guys on the blue line that struggled a little bit early on. I think they’re starting to play better and I think over time, they will play considerably better. I think we have got to find a better balance scoring goals too. I think that’s a big part. Right now we’re relying so much on our backend to get the puck and be a big part of the scoring that we’ve got to find a couple more forwards who can consistently put the puck in the net.”
As someone who’s been pretty vocal in their criticism of Bobby Ryan’s usage, Murray’s comments about trying to create a more balanced attack might help explain why Paul MacLean has insisted upon breaking up last year’s incredibly productive line featuring Ryan, Turris and MacArthur.
I understand the concept behind moving Ryan down the lineup. In theory, it splits up Ottawa’s best offensive forwards and spreads the scoring thereby making it that much more difficult for the opposing coach to get the matchups they want to shutdown Ottawa’s offence.
Away from Turris and MacArthur though, Ryan’s been slow to get his offensive game going at 5v5. Fortunately, the fact that he leads all Senators forwards in power play points with seven has helped make up for it. But at some point, the team should consider moving back to the first line where he can rely on his linemates to generate more offensive chances than what he’s been receiving elsewhere playing mostly on ineffective lines with Mika Zibanejad or David Legwand.
If the organization is looking for a little more consistency from its forwards in the goal scoring department, maybe it just needs to entrust those who are producing most frequently with added responsibility and ice time. Proportionate to their ice time, no forwards have been more productive than Mark Stone or Mike Hoffman. Hoffman is tied with Clarke MacArthur for the team lead in even strength points with 10.
Sure, they have unquestionably benefited from some favorable zone starts and sheltered minutes, but at least give them an extended opportunity to play more and fail before having to ship out tangible assets to bring in an outside solution that may or may not be better than some in-house alternatives.
On players in Binghamton possibly being solutions to some of the problems…
“Yeah, I think we have really good depth. I mean, (Jean-Gabriel) Pageau down there has been a star every night. I told him when he left Ottawa at the end of training camp, I had to apologize to him for sending him down because he deserved to make our hockey team with the way he played in camp. Contracts were a part of the decision in his case, but he’s continued to be a guy who looks like he’s really grown up in his ability to be a big-time competitive player. Obviously (Chris) Wideman down there (can help). Offensively, if we need a mobile, puck-moving defenceman, he’s really matured into that. But we have depth, yeah. (David) Dziurzynski has played really well. (Matt) Puempel is starting to really show signs of what he is: a goal scorer. So we have a number of guys that I think would get a chance, but right now fortunately for us, we’re carrying a couple of extra bodies and been able to cover (ourselves) in that that way.”
Murray did everything but chant “Pa-geau, Pa-geau, Pa-geau, Pa-geau, Pa-geau, Pa-geau.” The way that he sang Pageau’s praises, it makes me think that the organization really wants to clear some space and make room for him on the parent roster soon.
I suppose it makes you wonder why the Senators even bothered to sign another center like Legwand in the first place, but I guess after dealing Jason Spezza, the Senators being a budget team felt obligated to sign a luxury (read: insulation in the event that Zibanejad struggled) using the money they freed up in the Jason Spezza deal. It was essentially a gesture of goodwill to the fans.
It’s shitty to hear that contracts played a role in the decision-making process for sending Pageau down. I know the Greening contract is one that the Senators would like to offload, but the Senators probably also deserve criticism for bringing in a guy like Legwand as well.
I mean, if I had the choice between watching a playoff bubble team that included Legwand on its roster or a playoff bubble team that included Pageau on its roster, I’d take the latter ten times out of ten. I’d rather watch young players play and develop than watch a veteran placeholder like Legwand hold him back. As a budget team, I can’t believe the difference between dressing Legwand versus Pageau would be sizable. The team would still be a bubble team and it would have saved ownership more than $2 million in the process.
And it’s not even that I’m a huge Pageau mark. As much as I like his game and believe that his speed could be a valuable element to the current lineup, if he’s going to come up and fill bottom six role, my expectations would be pretty low. But like Erik Condra, he has utility. He’s someone I’d prefer to see him in the lineup instead of some of the struggling bottom six vets that have been consistently run out there.
On carrying extra forwards and thinking that he has the personnel in place to get the goal scoring he’s looking for…
“I’ve got to think that. I’ve got to believe that there’s a couple of guys there that will find an itch. I think Milan Michalek. I think (Mika) Zibanejad. I think Bobby Ryan. Bobby, I think, is playing really well but with a little help we need somebody to create a little offence for him, as well. We haven’t been able to find that guy right now, but I think there are some guys within that should score more often.”
Bobby Ryan needs help creating offence and the organization needs to find somebody to help create offence for him? Gee, if only we knew of linemates with whom he’s had success with before…
On Ryan seeming to enjoy playing with Mike Hoffman last night…
“Well, that’s the thing. Mike, we do this to young players, we put them together or we put them on the fourth line so often. When you give them a chance to move up and play in an offensive situation because Mike Hoffman’s an offensive guy, I think it helps the veteran on the line, as well. So Mike was a good fit last night. He made a big play late in the game to get us tied up and then it gave Bobby a chance to win it in the shootout. But yeah, I think if we can kind of fit a couple of those guys together and create an offensive line that looks legitimate then it will help a lot.”
Need more goals?
Try:
MacArthur-Turris-Ryan
Hoffman-Zibanejad-Stone
Michalek-Legwand-Chiasson
Smith-Lazar-Condra
You’re welcome.
On a Marc Methot update and whether he’ll play on this road trip…
“I’m not sure. Is he out in the water? I’m hoping. No, I’m hoping. Marc is skating now. He looks like he can go through practice. He tells me there’s still a little soreness, but at some point in time you’re going to have to play. If that’s not going to hurt him long-term, sometimes you have to play through a little bit of pain to begin with and eventually, hopefully, it clears up for you and you continue to play at the level he can play at. We’d really like to get him back in the lineup, obviously.”
As nice as it is that Methot seems close to returning, am I too cynical to believe that none of what Murray just said sounds reassuring? The potential for lingering soreness just raises so many questions: if he tries to play through it, will it negatively affect his play? Will it eventually require a surgical procedure? Will the Senators be comfortable trying to extend Methot? If they fail to re-sign him, will his injury erode his trade value?
On him being the perfect fit for Erik Karlsson when he comes back…
“That’s what we’re hoping and he was. He’s a good guy. He skates. He can get back and get the puck. He’s a good outlet for Erik. He can join the play when he has to and most importantly, if there’s a turnover high in the offensive zone, he’s got the ability to get back and defend. He is a fit and I’m not in a hurry to make a trade because of the depth that we appear to have because you pay a price sometimes to make that deal.”
“Methot’s not Mark Borowiecki, Jared Cowen or Chris Phillips.”
On whether Methot could play this weekened…
“Honestly, I haven’t talked to Gerry (Townend) or Marc about it today. I’m hoping tomorrow that he practiced well and (we’ll) at least have a look at being able to play.”
If Chris Phillips appears ready to return as well, it doesn’t bode well for Patrick Wiercioch – regardless of how well he’s played of late.
On offering an assessment of Mark Stone and Curtis Lazar…
“I think Mark Stone has really improved as a player. His ability to take pucks away from other players, his work ethic, the amount of work that he put in this summer, he looks like a different person really. He’s really leaned out. His skating is a little bit better. His head and his hands are terrific, I think. I think he’s another guy, if he can shoot the puck more often, could be one of those people who can score more goals for us. He’s a good playmaker. Maybe he’s the guy that complements a goal scorer that he can play with and help create offence that way. I like what Mark has done for himself. He’s really worked hard at becoming an NHL player. Curtis Lazar is an NHL player. He’s had a struggled getting points or scoring. Again, his work ethic is second to none. He’s a real honest guy. He knows how to play the game. He’s back in a support position all the time. I’ve just got a feeling that there’s a breakthrough somewhere here – that’s he going to get a chance to get a goal and they’ll come a little easier for him.”
Mark Stone and Mike Hoffman deserve to be playing top six minutes every night.
On whether he’d consider letting Lazar play at the World Juniors…
“Before I would do anything, I would talk to him and get his desire. We’d then talk to the coaches and that, but I’m open-minded. I have great respect for that junior tournament and how it helps kids. I think that we’ll get into December and make a decision. I don’t think I’d let him go for the whole training camp for the junior team, but certainly for the tournament would be a consideration. But again, as I say, the conversation will take place with Curtis first and if he has a great desire (to go), we’ll certainly consider it.”
Would Lazar actually tell the organization what he wants? He strikes me as the kind of guy who’s receptive to anything the organization tells him and will go or stay at their discretion.
On whether he has talked to Hockey Canada about Lazar’s participation…
“Well, they tell me if he goes he can be their captain or be certainly one of their leaders. He has that kind of personality that he would be that. He would be a very important player on their team and maybe that’s a boost that would really (propel) him in the second half, but we have to take a look at that.”
Barring an injury Connor McDavid and Sam Reinhart should also be in the Team Canada picture, so I wonder whether it matters to the Senators whether Lazar would play the wing or at center. Moreover, Lazar’s spent the bulk of this season adjusting and proving that he can play at the NHL pace. Winning a gold medal would be a great opportunity for any young player, but if the Senators are in the playoff hunt, would they not be better suited to holding onto him and continuing to allow him to develop at the NHL’s highest level?
Sure, he could play a key role on gold medal winning team, but he’s already enjoyed some important junior hockey moments like last year’s Memorial Cup. Will he develop more confidence playing against and hopefully dominating inferior competition?
I don’t know if there’s a correct answer to that question, but if the Senators are in the mix, I’d prefer to see him play in the NHL.
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