Murray ready for daunting future

Bob Murray may have a low-key profile, but he knows how to run a hockey team -- even one in a tight financial situation. AP Michael Farber's Mailbag Michael Farber will periodically answer questions from SI.com users in his mailbag. Name: Email: Hometown: Question: SEND

The Anaheim Ducks are the same, except quieter.

With Brian Burke in Vancouver for some down time before he moves east to run the Toronto Maple Leafs -- unless Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment balks at giving a hockey general manager the same amount of control it has given Raptors basketball boss Bryan Colangelo, this could come together within a matter of days -- the Ducks are now the responsibility of Bob Murray, who shares a similar view of the game as his old boss, at a lower decibel level.

Murray, who worked with Burke on the Canucks and Ducks and is a former GM himself with the Blackhawks, is not about to mess with the red-meat approach of the franchise that brought a jagged edge back into the NHL.

So what does the change at the top mean for the Ducks?

For coach Randy Carlyle, who had a strong working relationship with Burke, it means nothing. He is just as tight with Murray and the recent struggles are just blips for a team that, to quote a favorite Carlyle malaprop, is undergoing a baptismal of fire. (He trotted out the phrase at his morning press briefing Wednesday, reportedly the first time he has used the phrase this year.) For the business side of the operation, it might have more of an effect. Although his role in the community was largely lost on the rest of the NHL, Burke was a tireless promoter of the team and its unfortunately tepid rivalry with the Los Angeles Kings. No one buys a ticket to see a GM fulminate, of course, but Burke was a face of the franchise, at least on the corporate side. With the economy sliding, a strong, colorful advocate like Burke would have continued to be a plus for a team trying to impress in a crowded sports market.

Murray does not have that profile in Southern California. Indeed, he is probably less known than David McNab, who helped identify and scout college free agents like Andy McDonald and Dustin Penner who played key roles on the 2007 Stanley Cup team. (Murray promoted the deserving McNab this week to senior vice president of hockey operations.) Murray might even be less known than Burke acolyte Dave Nonis, the former Canucks GM whose contract allows him to leave his job as senior advisor with only 48 hours notice, an option when Burke lands his next job. Murray also lacks Burke's bluster, although talk is a lot cheaper than the salary cap, which Anaheim is rubbing up against like a cat on its mistress' ankle.

Things are so tight that this week Anaheim sent a pair of players, winger Bobby Ryan and defenseman Brett Festerling to Bakersfield of the ECHL for a day to save $12,000 against the salary cap. As Murray told On The Fly, all teams do this kind of accounting work. But a day-trip to Bakersfield, a two-and-a-half hour drive from the Pond depending on Los Angeles traffic, just makes it look worse. "It's not Des Moines, so it looks funny," said Murray said in reference to Anaheim's AHL affiliate. If the Ducks can accrue some scraps of cap savings by the March 4 trading deadline, it might allow them to rent a useful player for a playoff run.

But Anaheim's future is more daunting than the present. Even more than Detroit, which will have to partially reinvent itself next season because of salary cap issues. The Ducks face headaches that were created when star defenseman Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne came out of quasi-retirement in the middle of last season. For 2009-10, there are only eight Ducks under contract -- Ryan Getzlaf, Corey Perry, Chris Kunitz, Ryan Carter, Chris Pronger (the only defenseman), Ryan, Selanne, and their two goalies, J-S Giguère and Jonas Hiller. They account for a cap hit of slightly more than $30 million, likely more than 50 percent of the limit for next season.

When Murray was a GM in 1990s BC -- Before Cap -- there were budgets, not hard limits. He is going to have to do some pretty fast skating, something the Ducks players have seemed reluctant to do. While their front office scrambles, they have been basically taking a victory lap since their Cup parade.

"The fire hasn't been the same," Murray conceded. "The one thing about our Stanley Cup team was that willingness to do whatever it had to do, day in and day out, to win. We've seen spurts of it with us, but it's never been consistent. The players are searching for this as much as we're wondering where it is."

Food for thought

The Washington Capitals had their annual rookie dinner in Los Angeles on Monday. These are affairs in which typically a party of around 30 -- players, trainers, equipment men, etc. -- goes out for a splashy meal and sticks the new kids with the bill. Before leaving for the evening, Capitals coach Bruce Boudreau admonished them to go easy and not burden defenseman Tyler Sloan, who had played fewer than 10 NHL games, with something outlandish.

Glen Hanlon, the former Capitals coach, used to take it a step further. He would wonder why players didn't have a less lavish dinner and donate some of the money to a charity.

Hanlon was a man ahead of his time. Although the rookie dinner is a far superior form of bonding than the rookie initiations of three decades ago when players were shaved in the name of bonhomie, the blueprint is worth considering in these tough times. Instead of spending a garden-variety $15,000 on a rookie dinner -- the St. Louis Blues reportedly blew $40,000 last year on their dinner in Montreal -- it would make more sense to donate a portion to a local food bank in the names of the rookies. Tax receipts to follow. This could be a win-win situation.

As several players told On The Fly, they already contribute to the community and to charities through their teams as well as privately. True. But when word (and the prices) of these dinners leak out, as they invariably do, it creates bad optics for a group of athletes who are working under guaranteed contracts. With the price of NHL tickets being what it is, the phenomenon of the rookie dinner only leads to resentment for a league that fancies itself as fan-friendly. One player said, "When my brother hears what gets spent, even he can't believe it."

NHLPA executive director Paul Kelly, a man who has his antennae up for good ideas, can own this issue not by suggesting the rookie dinner turn into the Grand Slam breakfast at Denny's, but by asking players to tip their communities, say, 20 per cent of the bill to an agreed-upon charity. Makes the whole deal about vintage wines a little more palatable for a game in need of as many friends as it can muster.