BREAKING THE ICE

One of the first things Bryan Murray did as the Mighty Ducks’ head coach was to take home selected game videos from the 2000-2001 season, a collection that could fill a horror-film festival.

“I picked games from early in the season and later in the season,” Murray said. “I tried to see the difference in the team and style of play. I tried to avoid games in the middle of the season.”

Of course, that’s like watching “Psycho” and skipping the shower scene.

Things went fine for the Ducks early in the season. They had the best October in team history, going 6-3-1-2.

And going 7-6-2-0 to finish wasn’t an embarrassment.

But the middle--with injuries to key players, Craig Hartsburg’s firing as coach, General Manager Pierre Gauthier saying one thing, then doing the opposite--that’s where things dissolved. So it was probably best Murray skipped that part.

His trick now is to restore order and prevent a rerun of the worst season in Duck history (25-41-11-5). That begins tonight, when the Ducks play the Boston Bruins in the FleetCenter.

Murray’s target date for being a good team is Christmas. Anything before that would be a nice gift.

“We have to compete every night,” Murray said. “I think we will be a better team after Christmas.

“The team finished out of the playoffs and not being very good. I saw a chance to work with young players and do something.”

Murray’s glass is full to the point of overflowing. Yet, he certainly has the ear of those who play for him.

“There is definitely a new attitude here,” Oleg Tverdovsky said. “We have some new guys, some experienced guys that brought that attitude. Things are more positive.”

Injuries to Paul Kariya, Steve Rucchin, Mike Leclerc and others exposed the Ducks’ lack of depth last season.

They lost 257 man games, which was only the 11th most in the league. But they didn’t have the numbers to survive losing quality players.

“We don’t want to use that as an excuse,” Tverdovsky said. “But when you look at it, we lost our best player for 16 games, we lost out best center for the season. That’s not good. It is not an excuse for the whole team, but you put these little things together and it gives you a picture of what happened. Teams overcome injuries, play without their best players. I guess we didn’t have the depth to pull it off.”

The Ducks have added veteran defensemen Keith Carney and Jason York. Goalie Steve Shields, who had shoulder surgery and did not play after he was acquired from San Jose, has been impressive during the exhibition season.

Said Kariya: “Now I think we’re going in the right direction, where we do have young players who are improving, but we have some veteran guys who have been around the league and know what it takes to win.”

As does Murray, whose 484 victories rank him seventh on the all-time list. Five of the six coaches ahead of him have won at least one Stanley Cup. Murray has coached Washington, Detroit and Florida, but spent the last seven seasons as general manager with the Panthers before being fired last winter.

He has coached only one season since 1992-93 and that was as the Panthers’ interim coach in 1997-98.

“I had two or three other situations that were out there,” Murray said. “I thought this was a great challenge because of the young players who have to be important here.”

But Murray’s reputation is that of a teacher, and certainly the Ducks had a core of young players that team officials claim have a future.

“I was a young player in Detroit when Bryan was coaching there and he is a great coach for young players,” York said. “He teaches the game very well.”

Murray had tough workouts during camp, but did not chip at players. Positive reinforcement has been the mantra. “You can just feel things getting better and better,” Murray said. “It’s easier to get them to work harder in practice. Once they have some success, it will be even easier.”

Whether that can sustain the Ducks throughout the season is unknown. But they seem ready to roll the tape.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Duck Salaries 2001-02

Paul Kariya: $10 million

Oleg Tverdovsky: $3.05 million

Steve Rucchin: $2.55 million

Jeff Friesen: $2.5 million

Keith Carney: $2.35 million

Jason York: $2 million

Steve Shields: $2 million

German Titov: $1.75 million

Marty McInnis: $1.5 million

Vitaly Vishnevski: $975,000

Ruslan Salei: $950,000

Mike Leclerc: $800,000

Samual Pahlsson: $750,000

J.S. Giguere: $700,000

Niclas Havelid: $700,000

Pavel Trnka: $625,000

Denny Lambert: $550,000

Petr Tenkrat: $550,000

Jim Cummins: $500,000

Matt Cullen: $484,000

Antti-Jussi Niemi: $425,000

Kevin Sawyer: $425,000

Timo Parssinen: $400,000

Dan Bylsma: $350,000

Marc Chouinard: $350,000

Ilja Bryzgalov: $300,000

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Note: League’s highest-paid player is Jaromir Jagr at $10.033 million.

Source : nhlpa.com