Bryan Murray Speaks and Some Thoughts on Bobby Ryan’s Struggles

With his Ottawa Senators not playing again until Thursday night against the New Jersey Devils, general manager Bryan Murray held a media availability at today’s morning skate to update everyone on the status of Clarke MacArthur and Marc Methot.

Although the scrum was short, it was important because it gave us a glimpse into how the Senators handle the health of players who suffer head injuries.

As always, my thoughts are in bold.

On providing an update on the status of MacArthur and Methot…

“First of all on Clarke MacArthur, he does have a concussion. We are going to take our time with him. The carryover from last year obviously has been a big factor and we have to be fair to Clarke and to our team in that we allow him to have some time to hopefully fully recover and get back into the lineup only when he’s healthy. Marc Methot, when we first kind of talked to him after the game, it wasn’t an evaluation. It looked like there were flu symptoms and that’s all it was, but as we went further, in the last day or so, (we) realized that he does have a concussion. He skated today. He’s going to work out again. He worked out off the ice today as well. He’ll practice with the team tomorrow, we hope. He will be tested on Thursday morning and could be available as early as Saturday. At least that’s the hope right now.”

Thanks to medical research, public awareness, the bevy of civil suits targeting professional sports leagues that govern contact sports or even a Hollywood movie trailer, how sports organizations handle concussions has really come to the forefront and become a hot-button issue in recent years.

Knowing this, one would imagine the Ottawa Senators would be a little more careful handling any player who sustains a head injury, especially after Murray acknowledged that they carryover from last season probably contributed to MacArthur’s ability to absorb a blow now. Keeping that in mind, it feels kind of unsettling that Methot’s already going through the motions and may return as quickly as this weekend.

Don’t get me wrong, it’d be great to get Methot back in the lineup as quickly as possible. I mean, the last thing I want to endure is a few weeks of watching Mark Borowiecki replace Methot on the team’s top pairing, but I sure as hell don’t want that to come at the expense of a brain injury and a guy’s immediate and long-term health. 

Granted, it’s hard to be overly critical when I’m not privy to the conversations, barrage of tests or medical information that the Senators have available to them behind closed doors. I’d like to believe that it’s reasonable to assume that the organization and its medical staff will always do what’s in the best interests of the individual player and that whatever activities Methot is doing are completely acceptable given his condition.

Then again, it’s not like NHL organizations are ever completely honest when it comes to reporting or diagnosing injuries either. At the end of the postseason every year, the muzzles come off and players like Jared Cowen or Mark Borowiecki are finally allowed to publicly acknowledge that they’ve been dealing with some variety of injury. Similarly, some players endure nagging physical ailments without ever fully disclosing that they’re hurt to the trainers or coaching staff.

A lack of transparency has always been an unsettling problem with sports culture. 

On when or where Methot may have suffered the concussion…

“We don’t. He started to feel funny and that’s why we thought it was just sickness. Strange things happen in a game. I guess at some point, he got bumped – maybe in the head area, obviously. The carryover was, in hindsight, (it) probably should have been… well, we did pull him out, so there’s nothing else I guess we could do other than wait and see what the symptoms were.”

Sometimes symptoms don’t manifest right away, but in this instance, a player finished a game while playing with a concussion. It would have been interesting to learn when Methot first started experiencing symptoms. Was it after the game or during it? 

On MacArthur’s injury creating an opportunity to recall a forward from Binghamton…

“Well, right now Shane Prince is there and should get a chance to play. But for depth, I guess as we go forward here, at some point we’ll have to call up another forward.”

Matt Puempel’s had a quiet start in Binghamton, but he’s got the pedigree that could put him first in the pecking order to be recalled. 

On whether MacArthur’s concussion history creates more reason for worry…

“Well, Clarke was great until that incident with Robin Lehner last year and then he had the bump really in training camp with (Mark) Fraser and then this one seemed to be fairly innocent. The after-effects are greater than we ever thought they would be and he thought they would be, but he’s not feeling great so yeah, we’re concerned. There’s no question that when you get into head injuries, it is something that we’re more cautious about than (before). We’re going to wait until Clarke feels that he can really play and be symptom free.”

And maybe that’s the problem with these head injuries, you rely so heavily upon the feedback from the player that players guard information or maladies to ensure that they can get back onto the ice as quickly as possible. And with Methot already exercising and skating, you hope that he’s not following MacArthur’s path. 

On whether there’s anything that the organization would have done differently in handling MacArthur following the Fraser collision…

“No. I talked to Clarke right after and he felt it wasn’t even a concussion. He just felt it was… he got bumped and he got a little bit of a neck-thing out of it and that was all really. He was kind of laughing that… we even suggested it might be a concussion, so I don’t think there was anything more that we could do. We have to react to how the player feels and what he says to you. As I say, Clarke felt very comfortable that he was okay to go and we thought he was okay to go. He looked okay and he played okay. Coming back after a long layoff, he wasn’t what he was a year ago at the start, but very close to it and now this happens.”

It happened, so learn from it and ensure that Methot returns on your terms and not his. 

On whether he’s ever experienced something like this where a player is suspected to have the flu but it turns out to be a concussion…

“Well, I think it’s happened a few times as I’ve looked back on it. It’s not really abnormal that the symptoms are not there right away. And as I say, they just felt that with Marc (Methot), (he) was just not feeling well. That was all.”

On if the best-case scenario is that Methot can return on Saturday and what the worst-case scenario would be…

“Well, it would have to be day-to-day after that. I’ve (got) no idea other than the indications are that he felt good today. He skated. He worked out off the ice. He’s going to practice tomorrow and then he’ll do the baseline test on Thursday morning and that will tell us more.”

On how confident he is that Chris Wideman can play at the NHL-level…

“Well, we saw him play last year. We thought he could play at this level given a chance. He looked fine the other night. I think it’s just a matter of the coach having confidence to put him on the ice in certain situations. He’s certainly not going to be the guy that is going to kill penalties like Erik Karlsson isn’t very often. But with the puck, certainly on the power play if needed, but I thought he conducted himself quite well for his first game. I think, like any young player, they’re just going to get better as we go forward.”

Although Chris Wideman had no points, he did record two shots and a +1 plus/minus rating in 14:11 of ice time. When he was on the ice at five-on-five, the Senators had 16 shot attempts to the Predators’ 14, but the Predators outchanced the Senators six to four per War On Ice. He came as advertised: he is a small defenceman who can skate and move the puck. He’ll get into occasional trouble within the defensive zone trying to contain bigger forwards, but he adds a puck-moving dimension to the third pairing that the team previously lacked. Even without Methot’s injury, I thought he did enough to warrant an extended look, but I’m biased. I simply never want to endure a Cowen/Borowiecki pairing again.

On whether there’s any update to Mikael Wikstrand’s situation…

“They talked to us on the weekend and asked if he could play in Sweden. I said, ‘No.’ The same answer. I got a text from Mikael yesterday afternoon. I haven’t answered him yet, but I will today. He would like to stay home and I can’t keep him from staying home, but he can’t play hockey and he wants to play over there. We have to take a stand here at this time. If it changes later on, it changes later on, but that’s the message that I’m sending to him.”

There’s more than enough stupid going on in this situation. As ridiculous as it was for Wikstrand to just up-and-leave without speaking to management before arriving at the airport, I’ll never understand management’s stubbornness and insistence that Wikstrand spend the year in North America. I understand that like many other prospects who sign standard professional contracts, Wikstrand got his signing bonus. But, whether it’s a family illness, personal comfort or maybe even some mental health or anxiety issue, it feels like Wikstrand’s been pretty consistent in expressing his desire to remain in Sweden where he can play closer to his friends and family. It’s not some spontaneous thing that came out of the blue either. He left Frölunda HC with the intent to play for his hometown Färjestad BK. Assuming that he’s eventually going to come over and play for the Senators, I fail to see how another year in Sweden is going to harm or cause irreparable long-term development. 

On whether the family illness that necessitated Wikstrand returning to home has been resolved…

“Well, supposedly his brother is sick and he’d like to be closer to home, but I think the team he hopes to play for is three hours away. We’re about eight hours away on an airplane, so I don’t think there’s that big of a difference in the impact that he might have. But I do understand if there’s an illness. I understand that part of it. The point being that he made a commitment to play here. We signed him to a contract and paid him accordingly to our obligations and we’re asking him to honour that contract at this point in time.”

Business is business. I guess the organization won’t care if a prospect is miserable while adjusting to North American hockey in upstate New York. 

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The Struggles of Bobby Ryan

When any organization is sputtering and the team’s highest-paid player is struggling, it’s only a matter of time before that phenomena kicks in and said player becomes a lightning rod for criticism.

It’s not his fault that management neglected to address the blue line. It’s not his fault that the coaching staff is making Paul MacLean-like decisions with the personnel. It’s not Ryan’s fault that management giftwrapped a seven-year, $50.75 million market-value extension for him.

Finally healthy, Ryan spent the entire offseason getting himself in shape. He even made a concerted effort to tweet less so he could focus on hockey.

With only an empty-net goal and seven even-strength shots in six games to his credit, this wasn’t the start that Ryan envisioned.

The Senators need him to be a productive player and playing alongside Mika Zibanejad, the duo have also suffered in the puck possession game.

Here’s a look at their numbers from War On Ice:

Earlier this month, Senators general manager Bryan Murray told ESPN’s Pierre LeBrun that the organization is not worried about making a considerable investment – in both terms and dollars – in Ryan.

“We know we got a good player; we got a good contract with him. We think that his history is that he’s deserving of that. We just know that he’ll fulfill what he has to and he’ll be a good player. If I ever worry about the contract, I’d have a number of teams that would take it, there’s no question about that. But that’s not what we’re looking at.”

As concerning as it is that Ryan’s 28 years old, locked up long-term to a big ticket contract and at a stage in his career in which he’s probably not going to get better, the Senators have to figure out a way to maximize the return on their investment. Even though I’d probably encourage the Senators to listen and entertain any offer that comes their way, they need to put Ryan in a position to succeed. In the past, he’s had success playing with possession-driving forwards and in Ottawa’s situation, it doesn’t make sense to use three of their best possession-driving players on their first line.

What last season demonstrated is that Mark Stone and Kyle Turris can have success away from Mike Hoffman, but over the past two seasons, the same cannot be said for Mika Zibanejad and Bobby Ryan.

The following numbers come via HockeyAnalysis.com:

Dave Cameron has mentioned how his scorers need to do a better job of going to the dirty areas, but in all honesty, they simply need to do a better job of creating turnovers and starting a transition game that can allow them hem the opposition into their own end. Right now, the second line sans Hoffman is doing a horrific job. They’re not carrying the puck quickly with authority through the middle of the ice. They look slow because they’re moving the puck slowly and Hoffman can bring a dynamic here that can hopefully change that.

For the Senators, they need a more balanced lineup and with Hoffman on the first line, the team’s become as top-heavy as their blue line.