Tim Murray to be introduced as the new General Manager in Buffalo
– Big news in Buffalo on this 9th January 2014 where the Buffalo sabres have announced a press conference for 11:30am Eastern. They wil announce what has been reported across the NHL planet that Tim Murray assistant general manager with the Senators will become the new general manager in Buffalo. Tim Murray who’s the nephew of Bryan Murray of the Ottawa Senators will have many decisions to make in a very short period. The first one will be whether he will retain interim coach Ted Nolan for the remainder of the season or simply let him go and bring his own head coach in Buffalo. Murray will have the luxury to keep in place and find the right man later in the summer or prior to the NHL draft in June. Since Nolan took over the Sabres have played much better with a 8-11-3 record and have lately recorded 5 consucutive wins at home.
The next thing on Murray’s agenda will be to overhaul the team itself. Many of the high-price players have been inconsistent in their play with Ron Rolston and that is something Tim Murray will need to address. The upcoming trade deadline, 5 March 2014, will be important for the Sabres as they will have a couple of prominent players who are set to become unrestricted free agent such as Ed Ott and Ryan Miller. The Ryan Miller file in itself, promises to be high on Murray’s agenda as to whether the Sabres will resign him or trade by the trade deadline. Other issues such as to trade Drew Stafford or Ville leino will remain other issues for Murray to deal with. And also what to do with Mikhail Grigorenko who is back in the Quebec Hockey Major Junior League
Murray has spent 7 years as the Assistant General Manager in Ottawa preceded by stints in Detroit, Florida, Anaheim and the New York Rangers as a scout. Pat Lafontaine, President of Hockey Operations fired Darcy Regier and head coach Ron Rolston early November 13.
What will the Oilers do?
Many questions remain as to what the Oilers will do prior to the trading deadline. The team has been showing signs of good things to come but they have also shown poor play and lack of solid defense in their own zone. As reported by Terry Jones of the Edmontoon Sun, he stated that Craig McTavish would be inclined to keep his first round pick if he end up in the top 5 despite the fact that he once declared that he didn’t need another 18-year-old to develop.
As well Jones commented on what the Oilers will do comes the trade deadline. McTavish declared that he will not just make a deal for the sake of making one. “The next deal is going to be an important deal for us,” he told Jones. “It’s going to be important we make the right move. “There have only been 12 deals made this year and we’ve made four of them. You can argue the pluses and minus of the four deals we made. We’re trying to do something. We’d be crazy not to. We just have to keep grinding away, having conversations until there’s something that makes sense.” When asked about whether he would trade Sam Gagner, McTavish refused to comment. Gagner has been the subject of many trade rumors lately. McTavish is looking for a top-six forward or a top four defenseman or a no.1 goalie for Gagner.
Boston Bruins will look at replacing Seidenberg
The Boston Bruins who have been losing 3 of their last 5 games are stating to feel the loss of Dennis Seidenberg. Look for the Boston bruins to be active on the trade market in order to acquire a defenseman capable of filling Seidenberg’s shoes. Some of the defenseman available that could fit the bill are: Dan Girardi, Michael Del Zotto of the New York Rangers, Mark Stuart, Christian Ehrhoff from the Buffalo Sabres, Andrej Meszaros with the Philadelphia Flyers and Chris Phillips from the Ottawa Senators. Other notable defensemen are: Kimmo Timonen, Ron Hainsey, Nick Schultz, Henrik Tallinder and Rostislav Klesla.
