Ducks’ General Manager Bob Murray Hits A Gargantuan Jackpot In Vegas!

No Comments July 10, 2017 Ducks By John Stellman

Perhaps it was no coincidence that the National Hockey League held their expansion draft to stock the brand new Golden Knights in their Las Vegas home.

Why?

Smart Cookie!

Because Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray is indeed a shrewd wheeler and dealer.

Here’s the scenario. All 30 NHL teams were going to lose one player.

Murray didn’t want to lose any of his top four defensemen: Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, Sami Vatanen or Kevin Bieksa, who has a no-movement clause in his contract.

Odd Man Out?

Problem was, he could only protect THREE!

Which could have caused a lot of head scratching for some.

But not for the experienced Murray.

Prior to the draft, the Anaheim GM was communicating with his Nevada counterpart, George McPhee, frequently.

Behind Closed Doors

Here’s the deal!

McPhee agreed to take 31-year old, oft injured Clayton Stoner, who missed 45 games the past two seasons. That meant Vegas, not Anaheim, was on the hook for the final two years of Stoner’s $13M/4Y contract.

But it wasn’t that easy. Instead, it was painful!

Murray reluctantly sent young defenseman Sheo Theodore, 21, to Vegas.

Gutsy Move

By doing so, Anaheim was able to also hold on to Josh Manson and Brandon Montour, who provide additional depth on defense.

Murray could now protect Jacob Silfverberg, Richard Rakell and Andrew Cogliano among his seven wingers.

And it provided the GM with enough cap relief to lock up Fowler for eight more years at $52M. The contract goes into effect in 2018-2019.

Mutual Admiration Society

“Very thankful that management and ownership believes in me. Wanted me to be around for eight, nine more years,” Fowler admitted.

“Cam Fowler is the type of player we want here long term.

“He has the obvious skill set, but also tremendous character and a drive to succeed.

“As good as he is, he’s not yet in his prime years, so we know the best is yet to come,” Murray explained.

Said the 25 year old defenseman, “With the coaching staff we have in place, our ownership and the roster we have, I really feel like we’re very close and I think we’ve proven that.

Seventh Heaven!

“To be able to sign there long term was a dream come true for me.”

Last season Fowler had a career high 11 goals and was the Ducks top offensive defenseman with 39 points. With the six year deal Lindholm inked last fall, the Ducks defense will be solid moving forward.

But Murray wasn’t finished solidifying his defense.

Even though John Gibson emerged as Anaheim’s No. 1 goalie and turned in a yeoman like, blue collar performance (25-16, 2.22 GAA, .924 SV%), he paid a painful price.

Oft Injured Netminder

Groin problems caused him to miss almost an entire month.

Even worse, hamstring issues forced him to exit Game 5 and denied him the opportunity to start Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals against Nashville.

Murray wanted a veteran backup to protect against a similar scenario.

Solid Depth

And he got his guy, 36 year old Ryan Miller. On the cheap: Two years at $2M per.

“I do feel I have a lot of hockey left in me.

“I’ve been able to take care of myself and I feel I can still play at a fairly high level,” Miller admitted.

He doesn’t have to play at the Vezina Trophy level he put on display seven years ago.

Last year’s 2.80 GAA and .914 save percentage will be just fine, thank you very much!

Looking Ahead

Yet long before Murray left his Honda Center office for the trek to Sin City, the wheels were spinning.

And he was definitely on the offensive.

But some chips needed to fall.

And because of the awkward circumstances, the victim was likeable Simon Despres.

Unfortunately the Ducks 2016-17 opener at Dallas proved to be the defenseman’s only game of the season.

His recurring concussion symptoms suffered a year earlier never went away.

Mega $$$ Disappear

But Despres’ contract sure did.

Murray bought out the $15.9M/3Y deal for $5.3M and spread the payments over eight years.

Genius!

That allowed the general manager to extend Patrick Eaves’ contract three years at a cost of $9.45M

“That was a big deal for me, signing for three years,” Eaves acknowledged.

Ironically the 32 year old winger was acquired in a trade from…you guessed it… Dallas.

Instant Offense

After scoring 21 goals and adding 16 asissts in 59 games with the Stars, Eaves promptly became one of the Ducks top offensive threats.

In just 20 games in Anaheim, found the net 11 times and assisted on three other goals down the stretch.

Eaves had found a new home. And it didn’t take long.

“I spoke to my agent and told him this is where I want to be,” Eaves said on a conference call.

“I don’t know if there was a certain point where I was like, ‘Take this.’ My agent knew that Anaheim meant something to me.

Dream Come True

“Being in that locker room is something special, I noticed that on day one. It was just something I completely wanted to be a part of.

“I wanted to be a part of everything that they’re doing.

“Today it all came to a head. I’m so excited to be there, just to be part of things.”

The Ducks wished he’d been a part of a deeper playoff run.

Missing Ingredient

Eaves suffered an ankle sprain and bruised a bone in his right foot during the very physical second round win over Edmonton.

His loss against Nashville was devastating.

An agitator around the net and a force on the Ducks limp power play, Eaves, inability to play against Predators was critical.

Hopefully Eaves will be ready when the Ducks open at home for the first time in seven years on October 5 against Arizona.

Yet Anaheim probably won’t be at full strength.

Three Question Marks

Ryan Kessler, Lindholm and Vatanen could still be sidelined.

Thankfully for the Ducks, they have one member of the “team” who is never on the sidelines…Bob Murray!

The Southern California News Group Contributed To This Article

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John Stellman

I was born with sports in my blood. I began coaching little league baseball at 15. I was the sports editor of my high school newspaper. I did football play by play for the college radio station. I broadcast high school basketball for a local commercial station. But baseball was always my passion. During the 1970's I covered the Angels for the Orange County Register. And now I am back where I belong...