Yes we are getting tired of transcribing stuff, but Tim Murray is a great interview dammit!
The Assistant GM's full In The Box appearance can be heard here,or via streaming the embedded audio below.
My thoughts in bold.
On Cody Ceci being invited to camp…
Yeah, I think what we want to do here with Cody is reset him, reset his season. This certainly is no disreprect to the 67's, they've had a tough year…he's part of it. He's gonna move on now to a better team, obviously when you get traded from a low team to a higher team. He's gonna be counted on there heavily, and he's gotta be ready for that. And I think by coming in here, and getting a little bit of coaching from our guys on what we expect in the second half from him – it's a different situation so expectations are different. Put a lot of the onus on him to step up his game, and I think by starting him here with good players here it gives him a chance to just walk in there and you know have no issues on changing teams.
Can't say the Senators haven't been pro-active with Ceci's development. Back in December, Tim Murray confirmed they'd had Jason Smith working with him one-on-one.
On how realistic Ceci's chances are to make the team…
We're not telling him he can't make the team, and if he comes in here and if he's the best defenseman he can make the team. But, in saying that he should understand there's some pretty good defenseman here, there's some pretty good defenseman in Binghamton, and right now in the depth chart they're ahead of him. Can he move ahead of them? We'll see. All these kids know where they stand, they know the depth chart, they know where they stand, they all think they're ready to play. But, you know being realistic he's gonna come in here and try his best, and probably move on.
As a fan, this will at least be a good gauge to see how far Ceci is from being "NHL-ready".
On Stefan Noesen being in camp…
We're leaning towards bringing him. For the simple fact he's had a ten game suspension, he's not eligible til Friday with his team I believe. So we're thinking same thing, he's been out a long time, get him in here, see where he is in his development's number one for us. I mean, we've watched him play a lot in junior, but NHL camp is not junior. Maybe if he has to go back…maybe the camp here being around the pros, the high-tempo, he hasn't played in awhile. Plymouth might be extremely happy that we do that, and he hits the ice for them, and is ready to go, and hopefully it'd be like he hasn't missed a game.
Good carrot to hand the player, watching the USA convingingly take the gold in Ufa would of been bittersweet…and probably slightly more bitter than sweet.
On Zibanejad's status…
Well he's on the ice everyday. He's been monitored everyday. When you're working out in the gym and then when you're skating on the ice that can all go very well, and than it's how you feel after. Since Tueday he's had no issues, and felt very good after. Luke feels he's getting in better shape….we feel he could play this weekend.
Good news. Still be a little surprised to see him in camp, considering he hasn't played in six weeks, of course there will be at least of few of those in camp anyway. Wait and see I guess.
On if the concussions Mika suffered last year are why they're being so cautious…
Well there are a lot of factors. One, he's a high pick and he's a young guy. Two is, in Binghamton we're winning every night. So you don't have to do in quotations 'stupid things', and we didn't have to. So I just said to Luke here, we just have to shut him down, and I talked to Randy Lee about, let's just shut him down, let's just get him right. Fortunately we were in a position, where we didn't have to rush him, we were still winning. I think when you you're winning great things happen, byproduct of winning are many things, but in one of them you don't have to rush a guy back, you can take your time, you can sure that you don't make a mistake with them. Glen down there has done a great job with him, he came up to Ottawa and worked with our people up here a little bit and did a great job with him. I think now actually he's been out so long that he felt he could play before we allowed him to play, so I think that's a good situation.
Applauding the organization taking the conservative longview here.
On the possibility of bringing in another defenseman via trade or free agency…
Yeah, we've been working the phones, I was on the phone a lot yesterday at home, and Bryan here in the office. Certainly agents are calling us for the lesser guys, you know "my guy's ready, he's available he's in great shape" that's the message you get from them all. And some of those guys wouldn't be your first choice, but that's not to say they wouldn't be useful defenceman. I think that the phones with the other GM's are heating up, so Bryan is certainly…we're gonna find out what's available, what the price is , and then that's the decision you have to make. Would I be surprised if we traded for one defenseman? No. Obviously you guys can see it, everybody in the league can see it, when you look at our depth chart that's where we're a litlte bit short right now because of injuries. But in saying that you do have to give your kids a chance at some point too, to find out if they're ready. You know, we've seen these kids for three years, none of them are first year players; Benoit's a veteran, I would call Patrick a veteran in the AHL, I'd call Gryba a veteran in the AHL, I'd call Borowiecki a veteran in the AHL. They're inexperienced NHL players, but everybody was at one time. So, we'll work the phones and if can get better than them then we will, but I think we're pretty confident that one or two out of this group of four will do a tremendous job for us.
Could be wrong, but it looks like the brass is going to give this Bingo grouping at least some time to see if they can hack it before they'd pull the trigger on a trade.
On the organization's goaltending depth…
It's a position that takes time. You can draft four or five goalies over a four, five, or six year period and come out with nothing. And that is no disrepct to your scouting staff, it's attrition. We've seen lots of goalies picked very high that didn't turn out, and we've seen goalies picked in the mid-rounds that now are players. Robin's in his third year, he's had a tremendous year, we know he's a #1 goalie in the league…eventually, and we're quite confident him. And you trade a second for Bishop, and what he's done. They're probably the biggest twosome or tandem in hockey as far as that goes, they've both played great down there. Everybody saw what Anderson did here last year, he got us to the playoffs, he was great against the Rangers. So we're quite confident in our goaltending. And uh, the two guys we drafted last year are farther along the line but now we have depth here, we got guys coming, and I think that's the kind of progression you want.
This sounds like a guy loathe to take a goalie in the first-round.
On if Lehner's two-way contract and Bishop's one-way will affect the organization's mindset in camp…
Not for me. If Paul tells us that Lehner should be his guy, then we'll listen. But the way the other two guys can play the game…we're confident in those two guys in the net too, so if it's Bishop and Anderson or Anderson and Bishop, that's what it was last year or for part of last year and we were a playoff team. Anderson played great so if he comes in here and gets going right off the bat…and the other two guys have been playing. I don't know if I'm answering your question, but I"m confident in all three guys. I mean if you told me Robin Lehner was our starter tomorrow, I'd be happy with that. If you told me Bishop and Anderson would be the two guys, I'm happy with that. I think they're all quite capable of being top ten or so goalies in the league…and um, the contract may come into play.
Last six words hold a great deal of the truth.
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