Turning Ducks Around Will Be Mighty Tough

At least Bryan Murray knew what he was getting himself into last week when he decided to step down as coach of the Mighty Ducks and take over as the team’s senior vice president of hockey operations and general manager.

“It’s really a big challenge,” said Murray, who takes over for Pierre Gauthier, the same man who hired him as a coach less than a year ago. “We’re going to have to do a good job of selling the fact that we are going to be a very serious playoff contender.”

The Ducks and the playoffs?

That’s something that has happened only twice in the franchise’s nine-year history and the key reason why Gauthier was fired April 19 after Anaheim was left out of postseason play for the third consecutive season.

But turning a losing franchise into a winner is something Murray has done before and that’s why the Ducks never talked to any other candidates, including former New York Ranger general manager Neil Smith, before giving him the job.

“With 30 teams and everyone knowing the players on each team, it’s a little harder than it used to be when you try and make the trade that you want,” the 59-year-old Murray said. “But I’ve taken over non-playoff teams before and I think that experience will help me.”

Murray served as vice president and general manager for Florida from 1994 to 2001, and helped turn the Panthers into a Stanley Cup contending team that reached the finals in their third year of existence. Murray also worked as general manager for Detroit from 1990-94.

With the Panthers and Red Wings, Murray eventually combined general manager duties and coaching. He said it wouldn’t have been fair for him to try to do both jobs with the Ducks, which is why his top priority is finding a coach as soon as possible.

“I’ve been taking a lot of hockey calls and talking to a lot of people already,” Murray said from his home in Florida Monday afternoon. “I will not interview 20 people for the job. I hope to get the final list to three or four candidates before making a decision.”

Former Dallas coach Ken Hitchcock and former Buffalo coach Ted Nolan are possible candidates, but Murray could turn his focus to King assistant Dave Tippett, who interviewed for the Duck job last year.

Tippett’s stock is on the rise after he helped lead the Kings to the league’s best power play during the regular season. Tippett, who did a good job filling in for an injured Andy Murray after the Olympic break, also has head coaching experience, having led Houston to the International Hockey League title in 1999.

One coach who will not be a candidate is Murray’s brother, Terry, who led the Philadelphia Flyers to the finals in 1997 and worked under Murray with the Panthers. Which was not a great experience for either.

“Terry’s an excellent coach with a great track record, but we learned from our experience in Florida,” Bryan Murray said. “I don’t think it would be fair for either one of us to have that happen again.... When we got right down to it, it was a real negative.”

Although Murray hasn’t ruled out a major player overhaul this summer, he believes the Ducks have a strong core to work with. That’s a good thing because Murray doesn’t expect the league’s top free agents to give the Ducks a legitimate look during the off-season.

“Realistically, we will have a hard time this summer getting the high-profile free agent to sign with us,” Murray said about the Ducks, who finished last in attendance this season and have had three general managers and five coaches in nine years. “The majority of them believe it is important to play for a team that they consider a legitimate Stanley Cup contender, besides making money.

“The biggest issue will be addressing our power play [which finished 30th in the league] and that does not necessarily mean adding just one player.... I think having Disney behind the Ducks is a real plus, but the hockey side will have to step up and convince some of these players who might be available that we have a core of people in place that give us a chance to win on a regular basis....

“We just have to step up and do what we have to do.... Maybe we haven’t done it in the past, but we have to now.”

Dream Matchup

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has to be rooting for a Stanley Cup final four featuring Toronto versus Montreal in the East and Colorado versus Detroit in the West because the NHL would definitely take a hit by having a St. Louis versus Carolina final.

With the league’s popularity seemingly on the rise, based on the increased attendance numbers of the playoffs, Bettman would love to have interesting finals in both conferences.

The NHL would have all of Canada glued to a Toronto-Montreal series. The matchup not only would guarantee Bettman of having an original six team in the finals but also a Canadian franchise for the first time since Vancouver lost to the New York Rangers in 1994.

The NHL could not lose with either team playing for the Cup. If Toronto reached the finals, it would be the Maple Leafs’ first appearance since 1967. An appearance by Montreal, which last played for the league title in 1993, would end the Canadiens’ longest Stanley Cup finals drought since a 12-season absence that ended in 1944.

A Colorado-Detroit matchup in the Western Conference finals would pit the defending Stanley Cup champion Avalanche, which would be looking to become the third team to repeat since 1988, against the Red Wings, who feature an all-star cast and league’s best regular-season record.

If Detroit advanced into the finals and faced either Toronto or Montreal, it would be the first matchup of original six teams since 1979, when Montreal defeated the Rangers.

Double Standards?

You can easily understand Carolina’s frustration with the league when the Hurricanes had to play Game 2 of their conference semifinal series against Montreal without forward Jeff O’Neill, who was suspended by Colin Campbell, the NHL’s vice president of hockey operations, for his Game 1 hit on Canadien defenseman Sheldon Souray.

O’Neill may have deserved punishment for his hit, but you have to question whether his was any worse than the ones thrown by the Maple Leafs’ Gary Roberts and Darcy Tucker in their first-round series against the New York Islanders.

Roberts knocked New York defenseman Kenny Jonsson out of the playoffs when he hit him from behind and sent him crashing into the boards. Tucker ended Islander captain Michael Peca’s season when he low-bridged him and tore Peca’s knee to shreds.

Neither Roberts nor Tucker was punished by the league even though Jonsson and Peca were seriously injured. But O’Neill sat while Souray played in Montreal’s Game 2 victory.

Carolina General Manager Jim Rutherford was not pleased.

“It was early in the game, and for all intents and purposes [O’Neill] missed [all of Game 1],” Rutherford said. “The league is trying to protect players along the boards, but I do not think it warranted a suspension.”

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Mighty Duck Coaches

*--* Anaheim has had five head coaches. Ron Wilson (1997) and Craig Hartsburg (1999) are the only coaches to reach the postseason: Coach Years Record Ron Wilson 1993-97 120-145-31 Pierre Page 1997-98 26-43-13 Craig Hartsburg 1998-01 80-88-29 Guy Charron 2001 14-28-7 Brian Murray 2001-02 29-42-8-3

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