An Open Letter to Anaheim Duck’s GM Bob Murray: Practice What you Preach

The Anaheim Ducks have had a lot of shortcomings in the past few games. Pucks of a Feather contributor, Jonathan Maxfield, is taking a moment to vent his frustrations in an open letter to General Manager Bob Murray.

Dear Bob Murray,

You don’t know me, our paths most likely won’t ever cross, but I have some things that I feel must be said as a huge supporter of the team you manage, and as someone who will support that team whether they win 1 or 82 games in a season (Obviously hoping for a number closer to 82 than 1).

Let me start by saying thank you, thank you for some extremely positive moments for this franchise. You’ve been at the helm as we’ve acquired some incredibly impressive names like Ryan Kesler and Patrick Eaves. Your drafting acumen has been something to behold, building a foundation of notable names like Cam Fowler, Hampus Lindholm, Brandon Montour, Rickard Rakell, John Gibson etc.

This team has been remarkably consistent during your time at the wheel, that’s something I would never try to discredit. You’ve done a great job at maintaining a consistently good team, in a league where teams are constantly finding themselves from contenders, to the draft lottery, to lost in the shuffle on an almost yearly basis and that’s commendable.

But as we sit here, nearing the end of October, with a 5-3-1 record that is certainly not something to scoff at, we need to face facts. We need to take a long hard look at where we actually stand and before we see all the hard work you’ve put in over the years, all the positives you’ve given to this franchise slowly get overshadowed by a dark period.

We need to seriously consider a change. I’m not proposing a fire sale, I’m not claiming to be able to be able to do your job better than you, nor do I make these suggestions based on anger, frustration or any other negative emotion. I say this as a fan who sees potential in our roster, I say this as a fan of Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Patrick Eaves and Ryan Kesler, a fan who wants to see those 4 players hard work rewarded with at least one more Cup before their time in this league draws to a close.

Unfortunately, I feel that we are coming up to the point where it’s now or never regarding making that a reality. I am far more concerned than anything else. My concern has grown considerably over the past year, it’s a feeling that has been exacerbated by some things you’ve said and the actions that have followed them.

In an interview at the most recent draft with Eric Stephens of the Athletic you said, “I think the players better look in the mirror pretty quick. Let’s put it this way. Come September, I’m starting with a real hard look at the leadership group. And we’ll work from that.”

I don’t disagree, but we clearly have differing opinions on who is included in that leadership group. To this point you’ve voiced nothing but commitment to Randy Carlyle, you’ve praised his coaching last season attributing the Ducks playoff berth to his actions, you’ve excused his shortcomings by citing the number of injuries the Ducks have faced and excused his inability to contain his team by blaming it on the on-ice leaders of that team. Ultimately you’re treating him in a similar manner as quarterbacks in the NFL are treated. When a team is doing well a quarterback is given all of the praise, but when the hard times come, when things don’t go perfectly, the majority of the blame is distributed among the rest of the team.

Do I think that the players should be absolved of the blame? Absolutely not, they are the ones on the ice after-all. They are the only ones who have a direct outcome on the game, by their actions on that ice. But at the same time, those players are executing a plan that is placed before them by their coach, that is where my issues lie.

If you don’t want to place blame on Carlyle, that’s fine, but it’s hard not to see the hypocrisy in your words when you heap praise on him while bending over backward to excuse him for anything negative and do the opposite for the other leaders of the team.

You said yourself that Carlyle would have to change the way this team plays, to play a faster style of game. But instead of placing blame on him for not adopting that strategy on his own sooner, despite seeing what successful teams were doing, or at the very least incorporating any semblance of an indication that he was heading that direction game-plan wise, you say that “I have no issues with how he did” before saying that you weren’t surprised by the outcome of the Ducks playoff series with the Sharks last season. It’s frustrating to hear what ultimately seems to be nothing but excuses, and placing blame on everyone but Carlyle.

This off-season, you said the following regarding your teams play last season. “Good goaltending tends to cover up a lot of crap. And it did a good job of that.” You’re right, it does, and great goaltending covers up even more.

As it stands right now, the Ducks goaltenders have awe-inspiring stats. John Gibson currently holds the top spot among starters for save percentage, posting a .949 in 7 games, Gibson has faced the most shots in the league, 257 over 7 games, and yet despite facing that many shots, Gibson also tops the league in Goals Against average among goalies who have faced 200 or more shots with a 1.91.

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Ryan Miller has impressive stats in his own right, with a .938 save percentage over 3 games, and a 2.17 save percentage over that time. Goaltending has been the one strength of this Ducks team so far this season, and it’s hiding the other issues that are more prevalent than just about any other time during your tenure as GM of the Ducks.

You and Carlyle both stated that the team needs to change the way they play the game, play a speedier game. I like many other fans, took this as a change in the system, a change to match teams like San Jose, Winnipeg or Vegas who utilize their speed, despite not necessarily having the fastest players up and down their lineups.

But to this point, we haven’t seen that. We’re seeing the same flawed system that has caused countless headaches. Fits of anger and frustration among fans of teams coached by Randy Carlyle, with minor tweaks that are not only not accomplishing the end goal of playing faster hockey, but are creating a style of hockey that relies almost entirely on goaltenders playing impossibly well in hopes that after being bailed out by the goaltender that the defenders or center can spring a forward on a breakaway.

As the season has gone on, we’ve seen old habits rear their heads more and more with each game. The dump-and-chase is back in full display and games most times are slowed to a yawn-inducing crawl.

This isn’t something that’s just seen by the eye test. The Ducks are allowing the most shots per game in the league, allowing 37.9 per game, while taking the fewest shots per game in the league only managing 23.8.

This problem has gotten worse and worse and it has reached a fever pitch, allowing the Buffalo Sabres, who average just over 28 shots a game, to pepper Ryan Miller with 45 shots, the night after allowing John Gibson to face 45 shots to a team who has averaged 33 shots a game this season in the Vegas Golden Knights.

Anaheim is not adapting to the new NHL and I along with many others, feel that the largest problem that is preventing that is the coaching. Carlyle teams have consistently bled shots and relied heavily on a physical game and overpowering other teams.

As the league shifts to a smaller game, a game of quick passes and creating odd-man rushes by using that speed, Carlyle’s system has become increasingly less effective to the point now where the Ducks, without the goaltending they are getting, by just about every metric imaginable, should be the worst team in the league by a considerable margin.

You said yourself that the leaders of this team need to be accountable, well it’s time for that to extend beyond the players. It’s time to put Carlyle’s feet to the fire and show an actual change in this team or move on to a system that can utilize the players on this roster. Otherwise, we’re heading for a truly dark period of Ducks hockey.

I don’t want to see that happen, and I feel strongly that you don’t want to see that happen either. You’ve been a notoriously conservative GM in your moves, but I urge you to go out on a limb. Make the changes that this team desperately needs and save a season that is in jeopardy of slipping away.

The old adage goes, you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, I don’t subscribe to that notion, but I do think there’s some truth in that while you can teach an old dog new tricks, sometimes what time you spend teaching that old dog new tricks, is more productively spent teaching a new dog some old tricks in addition to new tricks.

Sincerely,

A Ducks fan who is finding less and less things to be optimistic about with each passing game.