MURRAY A FITTING PILLAR IN SENS’ RING OF HONOUR
Bryan Murray had to fly. But what a parting gift. On his way out the door to join his family for Christmas in Colorado, Murray, the longtime general manager and now senior hockey adviser for the Ottawa Senators, was declared the first inductee in the hockey club’s Ring of Honour.
On Jan. 24 when the Washington Capitals — one of Murray’s former teams — are in Ottawa, Murray will be honoured with a pillar in his name in section 306 of the Canadian Tire Centre. How appropriate for this pillar of the National Capital region.
Murray was selected by — what else? — unanimous vote of the Senators player honouring committee. This is the group that determined Daniel Alfredsson’s jersey No. 11 would be retired in a Dec. 29 ceremony at the CTC. Murray becomes the first builder in a Ring of Honour established as part of the 25th anniversary celebrations by the Senators.
“To be recognized in this way is a tremendous honour and I take it as such,” said Murray, who turned 74 last week. “To have had the privilege to come back to Ottawa for the last 12 years of my career has been really special.”
As Senators owner Eugene Melnyk implied, it was a slam dunk making Murray the inaugural builder enshrined by the organization. As a coach, Murray led the 2006-07 Senators to the Stanley Cup final in his second season behind the Ottawa bench. As GM, he held the position longer — nine seasons — than anyone in the modern history of the club. Most years, his teams have been competitive, although as Melnyk and Murray noted, there were down times. Melnyk
joked about the nights he would call Murray in the middle of a game to vent. He credits Murray for being “stoic” and “professional” as a GM.
During 35 years in the NHL, Murray coached 1,239 games in 17 seasons for five clubs — Washington, Detroit, Florida, Anaheim and Ottawa. His record: 620-465-154. Murray was 10th on the all-time list of coaching wins until he was passed by Barry Trotz last season.
Murray’s one regret — that he never brought a Stanley Cup home despite three trips to the Cup final as coach or GM.
“If you’re in this business, you’re in it to win. That is one of the things that certainly bothered me in the past few years in particular,” Murray said. “I knew my time was running short in the league.”
Murray’s point of pride: having helped develop good players, and young hockey minds in his many stops along the way. His MO was to instruct and then empower individuals.
“To have some influence on people is the greatest thing I could have achieved,” Murray said.
Representing the player honouring committee was Ottawa’s Murray Costello, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame as a builder. Costello remarked that Canadians like their hockey heroes to be humble and hard-working. Having small-town roots doesn’t hurt, either, noted the native of South Porcupine, Ont. From his experiences with Team Canada staff, Costello said he knows Murray to be extremely wellregarded by hockey’s best.
“They all respect Bryan as one of the real hockey minds in the game,” Costello said. “There’s no better recognition than that from your peers.”
In citing Murray’s achievements, Costello noted inductions into the Washington, D.C. Sports Hall of Fame, the Ottawa Sports Hall of Fame and the Shawville Hockey Wall of Fame in Murray’s
hometown. He also won in Ottawa a United Way Community Builder Award.
After getting diagnosed with bowel cancer two years ago, Murray has privately waged a fierce battle against the disease but has also become an advocate for cancer screening, especially colonoscopies. Because of increased awareness due to Murray’s message, dozens of people have had potentially cancerous polyps removed, including many in hockey.
Murray, who had chemotherapy treatment as recently as Thursday, says he is doing better than expected given his Stage 4 diagnosis in the summer of 2014.
“Everything is stable at this point in time,” Murray said. “I wasn’t given this good news at the beginning, but now everything seems to be holding stable so you might have to put up with me for a lot longer, maybe.”
While it took a few weeks to adjust to semi-retirement, Murray
says he is enjoying a nice balance of family and hockey life, after 50 years of frenetic hockey jobs from college to junior to pros.
Murray and his wife Geri will be in Denver this Christmas with their daughters and granddaughters. He credits new GM Pierre Dorion with keeping him in the loop and seeking the opinion of his management mentor.
As an observer, Murray likes the speed, aggression and team defence of the 2016-17 Senators.
“It has a chance to be a real contending team,” Murray said.
Melnyk suggested Murray’s next stop on the road to recognition should be the Hockey Hall of Fame, and we’re with him on that point. A former Jack Adams winner and NHL executive of the year, Murray has the numbers but also the character and commitment of a legitimate Hall of Famer.