Ducks open probe into GM Murray

The Ducks placed executive vice president and general manager Bob Murray on leave Tuesday amid an ongoing investigation into his conduct.

The Ducks said in a statement they recently became aware of accusations of improper professional conduct against Murray, who’s the third-longest-tenured general manager in the NHL.

The team didn’t specify the behavior Murray is accused of.

Assistant GM Jeff Solomon will assume Murray’s duties on an interim basis.

Murray played 15 NHL seasons from 1975-90, all for the Blackhawks. He was a senior VP with the Ducks when the team won the Stanley Cup in 2007.

The Ducks reached the playoffs in nine of Murray’s first 11 seasons, but they’ve missed the postseason the last three years, tying for the longest streak in franchise history.

Professional conduct has come under more scrutiny in the league since last month, when the Blackhawks were fined $2 million for their handling of sexual assault allegations in 2010.

A report detailing the team’s response to the allegations led to the resignation of team president and GM Stan Bowman and Panthers coach Joel Quenneville, who was the Blackhawks coach when Kyle Beach said he was sexually assaulted by then-Blackhawks assistant Brad Aldrich.

The Penguins settled a federal lawsuit filed by a former minor league assistant coach Jarrod Skalde and and his wife, Erin, who accused the team of negligently retaining a coach who sexually assaulted and harassed her and then retaliating against him for reporting the incident. Terms of the settlement weren’t disclosed. The Skaldes sued the Penguins nearly a year ago in U.S. District Court, alleging former Wilkes-Barre/Scranton coach Clark Donatelli molested Erin Skalde during an outing on a road trip in 2018. The team is the AHL affiliate of the Penguins. They also alleged current Wild GM Bill Guerin, who was GM for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and assistant GM for the Penguins at the time, asked Jarrod Skalde to keep the reason for Donatelli’s termination quiet and that the team punished Skalde for reporting the assault and later terminated his position under the guise of pandemic-related staff cuts. ... Avalanche center Nathan MacKinnon missed practice with a lower-body injury, and his status for Thursday’s game against the Canucks isn’t known.