This past offseason it was easy to come by unsubstantiated rumours concerning the status of Bryan Murray’s health. All you could only hope that they weren’t true and that the disease was treatable.
After Michael Farber’s excellent feature on Bryan Murray’s battle with cancer that ran before last night’s TSN broadcast of the Senators versus Oilers game, it turns out the rumours I heard were true.
Murray confirmed to the cameras he has stage four colon cancer that has spread to his lungs and liver. Doctors found the disease days before the 2014 NHL Draft.
Despite the heavy news, you wouldn’t know it by the way Murray carried himself throughout the interview – even showcasing his patented sense of humour. My favourite part of the interview was an exchange Murray had with the nurse in which she was explaining to him why he’s having difficulty sleeping on the first night following a chemotherapy treatment session.
“How do I counter (being unable to sleep)? Alcohol?” Murray asked with a smile on his face.
Without missing a beat, the nurse replied, “I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
It was a brief but hilarious respite from what otherwise was a depressingly tragic tale about how Murray developed the cancer seven to ten years ago and that it could have been prevented by a simple colonoscopy. The story resonated and fans from around the league were quick to offer their sympathies, prayers and well wishes to Murray, his friends and family.
For anyone who has lost a family member, loved one or friend to a condition that could have been avoided, their message and the one that Bryan Murray echoed last night is the same: never neglect or take your health for granted.
Stubbornness, avoidance and ignorance should never be an excuse. By breaking his silence and going public with his condition, Bryan Murray courageously came forward to serve as an example for the greater hockey community of what can happen. It’s a lesson I soon won’t forget.
Keep fighting Bryan, our thoughts and best wishes are with you.
Tim Murray Speaks
#Sabres GM Tim Murray is fighting for his uncle, #Sens GM Bryan Murray. #HockeyFightsCancer #EDMvsBUF pic.twitter.com/WI9AzKftmJ
— Buffalo Sabres (@BuffaloSabres) November 7, 2014
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsTim Murray was a guest on TSN 1200‘s ‘The Drive’ and given last night’s revelation by his uncle, the timing of the interview allowed for some interesting reflections by the Sabres general manager. When asked to comment on his decision to leave the Senators organization, an emotional Murray truthfully said that he had second-guessed himself.
“Sure, I’ve quite frankly, I’ve second-guessed everything that has gone on since (he found out that his uncle had cancer) and he knows that too. What’s happened has happened and I’m here, but under different circumstances, yeah, if you knew things earlier or certainly if I knew that, I wouldn’t have been very anxious to be out the door. I would have been quite content to know that I was his assistant for as long as he wanted.”
Today in Shocking Developments: Colin Greening’s Available During last night’s ‘Insider Trading‘ segment on TSN, Darren Dreger brought up Colin Greening’s name as a player that was actively being shopped by the Ottawa Senators. Considering Greening has only played in a quarter of the team’s first 16 games and spent the bulk of last season playing ineffectually on the team’s fourth line with Zack Smith and Chris Neil, the news isn’t surprising – especially once you’re reminded that this is a player who is signed through the 2016-17 season at a $2.65M cap hit. From Dreger:
“Meanwhile if you look at what’s going on with the Ottawa Senators, the Colin Greening trade rumours have been out there for a long, long time. He’s used sparingly in-and-out of the lineup. He’s a tough sell because he’s got two-years after this year at $2.65 million per (annum). (He’s) a real good guy. (He) works hard (and is) clean. No baggage with this guy, so I’m told that there’s some mild interest brewing in Colin Greening. All (the Senators) want is a fourth or a fifth round draft pick in return.”
By propping up Greening’s intangibles, it certainly sounds like the Senators are trying to negotiate through the media and use Dreger as a mechanism to drum up some interest. If all it took was a lowly pick to pry Greening out of Ottawa’s grasp, I’d like to think the deal would have happened already… unless there simply isn’t the level of interest in Greening that is being reported.
Marc Methot Negotiations
Dreger also made an appearance on TSN 1200 this afternoon where he commented on Marc Methot’s status with the Senators. The following transcript comes courtesy of Chris Nichols’ invaluable NicholsOnHockey.com:
“The trade speculation is going to be consistent as long as this on-again, off-again negotiation remains off. That really is where it’s at. I’m told they haven’t had any meaningful discussions, in fact, may not have talked at all, in the last three weeks. So that tells you there’s not a real decent sense of urgency or pressure from the Senators’ perspective to get this done, even though Marc Methot is a quality player. And he can help this team on the ice.
“And while these players sits in limbo, it’s okay now because Methot isn’t ready to return and my sense again in digging around was that we’d have a better handle on when he might return next week. The good news is he saw a specialist, I believe last week, and got a second opinion. It sounds like it’s a soft tissue problem and less structural. So that’s a good news scenario.
“But teams interested – You’re looking at Anaheim. You’re looking at Detroit. Maybe Edmonton in the West, and the Florida Panthers, I think, would have interest as well. That’s just naming four of what could be a much larger list.”
Unfortunately, Methot’s defence of Bobby Ryan on Twitter today was the single greatest performance by a Senators left defenceman this season.
@b_ryan9 @dpings87 I got this bobby, you could land a 747 on that runway… #hairgameNOTstrong LOL pic.twitter.com/tcegDIo7Ei
— Marc Methot (@MarcMethot3) November 14, 2014
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Hoffman Leading the League
Yeah, that scorching hot Mike Hoffman — with a scintillating six goals in his last five games — now leads the NHL in a statistical category: shots per 60 minutes of even strength hockey.
According to Scott Cullen’s fantasy hockey post on TSN, amongst the players who have played more than 100 minutes of even strength ice time, Hoffman is averaging 13.74 shots per 60 minutes. Rick Nash (13.50), Cam Atkinson (13.13), Max Pacioretty (13.00) and Justin Williams (12.49) round out the top five. That’s some pretty damn good company to share.
Hoffman’s shot rate shouldn’t come as a surprise however. Even in last season’s 25-game sample size, Hoffman was not afraid to let his shot go – averaging 10.48 shots per 60 minutes of 5v5 ice time. Unlike last season however, Hoffman’s back of his hockey card numbers aren’t being submarined by poor luck. Through 13 games this season, the Senators’ on ice shooting percentage with Hoffman on the ice is 13.58, almost three times higher than last season’s 4.64 percent.
After complaining about how Hoffman just needed an extended opportunity to let his production rates normalize, I never want to see Hoffman’s on ice shooting percentage regress towards the league’s average. It’s just too much fun watching him play and produce.
If you want to support Hoffman, you can scoop up a new t-shirt at The 6th Sens’ store. All proceeds will be donated to the Sens Foundation.
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