Ed Stein — Site Expert, Empire Writes Back
In my opinion, this has not been one of Bob Murray’s best years in the GM chair. Too often, Ducks Nation has wondered what the direction of the organization is. Quite often, the Ducks said they wanted to be younger and faster, but put a team on the ice that was anything but.
That changed a bit when Randy Carlyle was relieved of his duties as the Anaheim Ducks head coach. That, as the question stated, was his best move. However, it came about two months too late. It’s easier to write about GMBM’s missteps in 2018-19 than his good deeds, but after careful consideration, I have two moves that I think were his best.
First of all, I think it took plenty of guts to install himself as head coach with no previous experience. He needed to see the team from behind the bench to evaluate talent. It almost doesn’t matter what his record is, because the season was lost by the time he took the reigns.
The other thing Murray has done is he welcomed younger players onto the roster. We often talk about the next wave of Ducks players, but if they don’t get any ice time at the NHL level, they can’t develop. Troy Terry has been a staple of Murray’s lineups as has been 20-year-old, former first-round pick, Max Jones. Daniel Sprong, Jaycob Megna, and Brendan Guhle have also benefited from Murray youth-friendly team.