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Murray Puts His Stamp on League’s Best-Kept Secret

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If a hockey team improves dramatically from one season to the next but plays in a city west of Toronto and ends its games when Eastern-based TV stations are showing infomercials for miracle knives, does anybody hear it?

Bryan Murray, general manager of the Mighty Ducks, knows word hasn’t filtered through the NHL that his team has shed the trappings of failure. “Our time zone doesn’t help,” he said. “Even some of our friends who live in the East aren’t able to stay up and watch our team play.

“People in our business know who we are and what we have. Hockey people know now. [Detroit Coach] Dave Lewis and the people who built the Red Wings know. People in the community [in Detroit] didn’t understand.”

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They do now, after seeing the Ducks move to the brink of a stunning playoff upset with a 2-1 victory over the Red Wings on Monday that gave them a forbidding 3-0 series lead.

The Ducks clearly owe much of their success to Murray. Unafraid to bruise egos or eat contracts -- his decision to exile German Titov, Jason York and Denny Lambert during training camp signaled his seriousness -- Murray brought a sense of direction to a foundering team and brought playoff hockey back to the Arrowhead Pond.

“People talk about Dave Lewis having Scotty Bowman to talk to. Bryan Murray is no slouch,” said Coach Mike Babcock, who has talked to Murray daily since training camp. “He’s been around a while and he’s a real people guy. I’d be the dumbest person in the world to not use that kind of resource.”

Through trades and free-agent signings, Murray added grit, size and the resolve the team had lacked since Ron Wilson cajoled the Ducks to a seven-game victory over Phoenix and six overtimes’ worth of nail-biting hockey in a second-round loss to Detroit in 1997.

Murray’s work paid dividends in Games 2 and 3. Each goal in the Ducks’ 3-2 victory in Game 2 was scored or set up by players he signed, acquired or promoted: Stanislav Chistov, Jason Krog and Steve Thomas scored, with key assists from Rob Niedermayer and Sandis Ozolinsh. Chistov scored again in Game 3, to the delight of a towel-waving sellout crowd at the Pond.

“Picking up [Thomas] and Nieds, we got two guys who can get in there and bang and create ugly goals,” said winger Paul Kariya, whom Murray consulted before signing Adam Oates as a free agent last summer. “Our team has changed a lot, even from the start of the season, and it’s changed for the better.”

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Babcock agreed. “Obviously, Thomas and Niedermayer are bigger bodies,” he said, “but I think toughness is determined by what’s between your ears.”

And these aren’t mouse ears. Nor is there anything cartoonish about the Ducks’ competitiveness.

“The biggest job we had to do in the organization is to create a confidence that allows these people to play well and win their share of games against the best teams in the league,” Murray said. “The thing you have to build up is your mental toughness. You can’t have that happen until you win some games.”

The ultimate test, he figured, would be for the Ducks to play the defending champion Red Wings. He’s not a masochist. He simply believed the Ducks were ready for their close-up.

“For exposure and recognition of the organization, the coaches and the players, the best team to play is Detroit,” said Murray, the Red Wing general manager from 1990-91 through 1993-94 and their coach from 1990-91 through 1992-93.

“There’s more attention on that team than most others, because of all the Hall of Famers they have. It’s going to be on ABC and ESPN. For an organization that hasn’t gotten a lot of acclaim, that’s the best thing that could happen.”

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Murray, 60, was hired to coach the Ducks in May 2001 and did a creditable job in producing a defensive upgrade. After Pierre Gauthier was fired as general manager, Murray was offered the job by then-chairman Paul Pressler but hesitated to accept, having planned to coach a few more years and retire. He took it on the condition the Ducks’ parent company would make a commitment to excellence, and Murray said Disney’s support hasn’t waned since Pressler left and was replaced by Jay Rasulo.

“I had an outline of what I wanted to do, but I didn’t have any names,” Murray said. “I had some ideas of what we needed to do to be somewhat credible in the community. Money was never an issue.”

Besides signing Oates and acquiring Petr Sykora from New Jersey, he hired a new strength and conditioning coach and invited everyone from Kariya to ticket sellers to express opinions. He’s a frequent but not overbearing presence in the locker room.

“He’s always wisecracking about me not scoring,” Kariya said, grinning. “Bryan is very witty.”

Murray would prefer to be known for restoring the popularity the Ducks had in their early years. Amid the heavily pro-Duck crowd were a sprinkling of Red Wing fans whose early chants drew resounding boos.

“You have to give people a reason to cheer for you and look at you and come to your games,” he said. “You have to play well and win. To entertain is to play well, but also winning. If you don’t win, you don’t deserve to have fans.

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“By competing every night and showing we care, hopefully some of those people from those first few seasons will come back, and maybe some new fans will come.”

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Murray’s Moves

General Manager Bryan Murray has made several key moves to improve the Mighty Ducks over the last year:

* Signed 40-year-old playmaker Adam Oates in July 2002. Oates has 36 assists this season, including the playoffs.

* Acquired forward Petr Sykora in July 2002 from New Jersey. Sykora leads the team in goals with 34.

* Acquired defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh from Florida in January 2003. Ozolinsh has 18 points and was a plus-10 in the regular season since joining the Ducks.

* Acquired Steve Thomas from Chicago and Rob Niedermayer from Calgary in March. Thomas has 11 goals in only 15 games with the Ducks.

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