When Eugene Melnyk announced last month that the organization would require a major shake up after a season filled with more disappointments than John Muckler’s draft record, it was presumed that Dave Cameron would pay the price for this team’s underwhelming performance.
Asked where this team’s record would leave Bryan Murray and Dave Cameron, Melnyk made it seem like Murray’s job was secure.
“With respect to Bryan, I’ve just said all along that as long as he wants to stay on as GM and can stay on as GM, then he is welcome to (stay).”
With the organization calling a press conference for this morning at 11:00 am and Bruce Garrioch indicating that changes are afoot in the hockey operations department, it sounds like Murray has made the decision to move on from the general manager’s role.
“The Senators have called an 11 a.m. news conference Sunday where it’s believed they will announce GM Bryan Murray, who has been on the job since the club went to the Stanley Cup in 2007, has decided to move into a role as a senior advisor while assistant Pierre Dorion will become the seventh GM in club history.”
This news will probably placate that sect of the fan base that has been clamouring for change within the hockey operations department that has overseen the process and produced one playoff win over the course of the past nine seasons.
That’s not good enough and this fan base deserves better.
Obviously there’s going to be a great deal of empathy for Murray if he steps away from the general manager’s role and becomes an advisor. Murray himself has frequently admitted that his day-to-day duties as general manager were salubrious as he battles Stage-4 colon cancer.
As a general manager, many of his roles and responsibilities were delegated to his two general managers anyway, so it shouldn’t be too difficult of a transition for him into an advisory role, if that’s actually what’s happening.
If it is, it’s only fair to give Pierre Dorion the benefit of the doubt, but despite this reported restructuring, fans are inevitably going to be wary because both assistant general managers have presided over the past nine seasons and have their fingerprints all over this organization. Their tenure here makes them complicit for this team’s downfall.
Now maybe that’s a little harsh.
Maybe Pierre Dorion is his own man with his own ideas on how to change the fortunes of this organization. Not every protégé has to blindly adopt all of his mentor’s philosophies and ideas.
Without first-hand knowledge of the hockey operations department, it’s impossible to know what these assistant general managers brought to the conversation. Did Bryan Murray surround himself with like-minded yes men? Did these assistants bring more to the table than they’re given credit for? How will Murray handle a change in which he’s no longer has the final decision-making power? Will Dorion have credible ideas or opinions on how to positively effect change? How is Dorion’s relationship with Eugene Melnyk? Can he deftly handle his duties while working under the stresses placed upon him by one of the most eccentric owners in hockey?
Unfortunately, they are all unknown.
To Dorion’s credit, he was principally responsible for Ottawa’s freelance analytics hire. Conversely however, it never felt like this individual ever really had a complete buy-in from the organization.
The only certainty is that if Murray steps into an advisory role, Dorion will still operate and endure the constraints placed upon him by Melnyk.
Under these circumstances, and it’s hard not to have resigned feelings about anyone’s chances for success.
I believed that this organization would benefit from new ideas, unbiased perspectives and a fresh voice — someone like a Julien BriseBois or a Paul Fenton, for example — but there’s no guarantee that Ottawa could entice either of these individuals away from their current roles or that they would receive the kind of autonomy and support that they would need to enact their vision.
And that’s the feeling that I keep coming back to here.
As easy as it is to get excited about a front office shake up, my excitement level would have been even greater with the introduction of someone from outside of the organization.
It’s totally unfair to Dorion, but because of the situation, it’s almost impossible to shake the notion that this is the return of the status quo — everyone just has different titles attached to their names.
The only title that isn’t changing is the one belonging to Senators owner Eugene Melnyk… and maybe that’s precisely the reason why everyone’s feelings should be subdued.
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