All About Tim Murray

[...]

I didn't see a thread on Murray, so I figured I'd start one.

 

Fitting, I think, since now that the trade deadline has come and gone, we have a taste of what this dude will bring the Sabres.

 

The more and more I hear him interviewed, the more and more I like him. I appreciate his up front, no B.S. style.

 

He says he has a plan, but that he's willing to make mistakes.

 

I don't know if I'm head over heals with the results of the trade deadline, but I think that's more a matter of not being in on the plan. Thinking of the players left, and those in the system, I can perceive a "direction" he may be headed, which is far more than I can say I did for his predecessor.

 

I almost seem to think, too, that he's "lightened up" a little the past few days, to which I can't attribute anything certain, but it does correspond with PLF's departure and the impending/passed trade deadline. I think this guy likes to be the cowboy riding in and taking down all of the bad guys...

[Peter]

So far, I am impressed. I also think that he seems to have "lightened up" as you say. It does seem to correspond with some other interesting events down at the FNC.

 

Time will tell whether today was a good day. Based on what I have seen so far (notwithstanding my hope that he could have gotten more in some of these deals), I really like Tim Murray thus far. The guy seems to be a straight shooter. He is a hockey guy through and through. It seems as though he was groomed for this day and the GM position his whole life.

[Kelly the Dog]

I like him a lot, although at least half of that is of the he's being given the benefit of the doubt variety.

 

I love the way he handles interviews, mostly because as opposed to most other guys in his position in this and other sports, he seems to care less about creating an image or sounding good. He's not naive; in fact, I think he's more calculated than he comes across as far as what he says in interviews and pressers. But it's not in the deceitful kind, more of the crafty, I can't give too much away kind but this is what I will tell you.

 

I love that he can't wait to get away from the camera and go look at more players and get out on the road to see the live.

 

As far as his vision goes, IMO, he has only brought four players in so far that are part of the Sabres future and that vision, not counting the goalie: Stewart, Fasching, Deslauriers, and Carrier. All of them are good to great sized power forwards with some offensive skill and lots of potential. That is what we are lacking and that is what he is after right now.

 

Conacher is just for this year and maybe the tank. Klesla, Mitchell, etc. don't count, as they were just salary or filler guys.

 

He's fearless and not afraid to make mistakes, which of course he will make.

 

He seemed to be thinking of everything as the deals were made today, outside of Terry's money, which is fine with me. The back-up goalie, for example, could either turn out to be a shrewd move, or just one less piece we have to find to field a team the rest of this year and next.

 

I liked McNabb but he was expendable for sure. McCormick we have six of. We gave away some #2s and #3's but we have so many picks as to render them meaningless (and got a couple back).

 

I hope he is as good a talent evaluator as his reputation; he could and should be a terrific GM for years to come.

[wjag]

This should be fun.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

BP 137/92

Chol 239

Gluc 122

 

GM A-

 

 

[oldSabsfan]

i think Conacher will be here longer than u think!

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

i think Conacher will be here longer than u think!

 

In his defense..."The Tank" is projected to go anywhere from 18-54 months.....

[bob_sauve28]

He said today that they are going after free agents this summer and that players will want to come here. They have to spend money, obviously, just wonder how that plays out and what the plan is for next year, do we want to win or lose?

[Iron Crotch]

I'll give Murray credit in that he certainly made moves and lots of them. In that sense he seems to be the anti-Darcy. Murray seems to have a plan and he certainly isn't afraid to execute that plan... and he doesn't seem to be afraid of the "court of public opinion."

 

I also like that he mentioned acquiring assets that can be moved at the draft. I genuinely think he wants to flip some of the picks for young pros. That is something I'd be happy about. Should be a fun draft this year!

[...]

 

 

I also like that he mentioned acquiring assets that can be moved at the draft. I genuinely think he wants to flip some of the picks for young pros. That is something I'd be happy about. Should be a fun draft this year!

 

 

Agreed. I just watched his post trade deadline presser again, and he laid out his plan clearly: they're going to identify prospects who have been in someone's system for a little bit and use picks and player trades to try and acquire the ones they want. What was left unspoken, although I think it was addressed in the WGR interview, was that they have a ton of cap space to pick up players to flesh out the roster.

 

One aspect of his responsibilities that I hadn't picked up on until this second watch of the presser was his interest in development. Several times he referred to developing young players "appropriately" which he clarified at one point to mean "to the highest level they are capable of achieving" or something close to that.

 

So, while next season looks like it will be another bust on paper, I have hopes that the 2015-2016 season we may actually start seeing the team turn around if all of GMTM's planning pans out.

 

 

[Doohicksie]

Time will tell whether today was a good day.

 

No. It was a good day, period.

 

Tim Murray had certain assets on the team that needed to be signed or moved. They didn't get signed, so he moved them to ensure he got something back for them. The trade deadline is a poker game among the GMs, and this was Murray's first time as the #1 guy with an organization. For someone right out of the box, he nailed it. Are we disappointed that he didn't get stronger returns? Perhaps. But he did the best he could within the dynamics of what the other teams would offer. He pulled off several trades and while you can kvetch about not getting a high enough draft pick back here or a strong enough prospect there, on the whole you can't really complain. I'm especially pleased with what he did with the goalies. He has a plan and he's executing it based on the information he has right now.

 

I'm not going to preface it with "time will tell." That's always the case, and the second-guessers will always look at what happened a week, a month, a year from now and talk about what he could have done better. But considering the constraints he was working under, I'm very pleased with the results. I think he maximized the return for the Sabres and you can't ask for anything more.

[SabresBillsFan]

i think Conacher will be here longer than u think!

 

That's fine as long as he gets his offensive touch back. Like Murray said he a complimentary player.

 

He said today that they are going after free agents this summer and that players will want to come here. They have to spend money, obviously, just wonder how that plays out and what the plan is for next year, do we want to win or lose?

 

If I'm Murray I'm going one more year of the tank especially with McDavid sitting there plus who knows what the Islanders do with that 1st they traded us. We could possibly have 2 picks in the top 5. Not many teams ever get that. I think it could be a fast turn around if that happens.

[nfreeman]

Well, if nothing else, the cupboard, which was previously pretty bare when it came to young forwards with offensive potential, has been restocked in that department.

[dejeanneret]

One thing that surprised me today was how there was a focus on prospects rather than draft picks. We even gave up some serious draft picks for young talent.

 

Seems that Murray is huge on counting on his scouts to pick talent off of other teams rosters.

 

There isn't a real way to gauge a win or loss until we see some of those prospects grow into NHL talent.

 

With that said, I really like what i've seen from Murray so far in the way he focuses on what needs to be done. He has a solid plan and knows exactly what to do. There isn't any stuttering. He is resolute in his plan.

 

It's refreshing to have someone in command with that type of presence. And we aren't talking about someone who hasn't done this in the past. He helped build the Ducks and Senators.

 

I'm very excited with this guy at the helm. Very.

Edited March 6, 2014 by dejeanneret

[SabresBillsFan]

One thing that surprised me today was how there was a focus on prospects rather than draft picks. We even gave up some serious draft picks for young talent.

 

Seems that Murray is huge on counting on his scouts to pick talent off of other teams rosters.

 

There isn't a real way to gauge a win or loss until we see some of those prospects grow into NHL talent.

 

With that said, I really like what i've seen from Murray so far in the way he focuses on what needs to be done. He has a solid plan and knows exactly what to do. There isn't any stuttering. He is resolute in his plan.

 

It's refreshing to have someone in command with that type of presence. And we aren't talking about someone who hasn't done this in the past. He helped build the Ducks and Senators.

 

I'm very excited with this guy at the helm. Very.

 

I'm sure Murray knew about Hudson off the Kings as well. To me people are making a big deal of McNabb. To me he had two chances to stand out for two coaches and couldn't with either one of them. I'm not sold on his skating anyhow. You look at the Hawks defenseman and those guys can skate and move the puck.

Edited March 6, 2014 by SabresBillsFan

[Doohicksie]

[thewookie1]

I love this guy's way of communicating with the press, straightforward with good honest answers. I hope to see his lighter-side come out like it did more in the post-deadline conference. Best of all he shows passion, something DR rarely if ever showed. If Lafontaine and Murray had any problems, it would of have to of been on the fact they are both very passionate for what they feel is right.

[wjag]

I'll give Murray props for being active yesterday. Outside of Neuvirth, I have not heard of any of the players he targeted.

 

His resume is starting to fill out though:

 

Carrier

Stewart

Mitchell

Conacher

Fasching

Deslauriers

Neuvirth

Klesla

 

At least we will have something tangible to evaluate.

Edited March 6, 2014 by wjag

[neverenough]

I have a really good feeling about where were going. Go Sabres!

[Chester Springs Rich]

In reveiwing the traded deadline moves, I see two common themes that Tim Murray followed starting with the trading Miller and Ott to St Louis, its this - Big and Draft Picks. Big meaning the size of the players and prospects he traded for. Just take a look at the height and weight of the players coming to Buffalo, a breath of fresh air vs the might midgets that Darcry was known for. And stock piling of picks. A very good day for a rookie GM> Very good day.

[kishoph]

He said today that they are going after free agents this summer and that players will want to come here. They have to spend money, obviously, just wonder how that plays out and what the plan is for next year, do we want to win or lose?

 

This is what I'm hoping for, I want to see some good hockey next year, I'm "middle aged" and don't have the time to wait 2-3 years to see good hockey. As well I can't believe that the players or the majority of the fans buy into "tanking" for another year or two. To some, it may seem like a good idea now, but how long can you follow ###### hockey ? Ticket sales will suffer and the chance of getting good FA's or resigning your top players will be nearly non-existant. JMO

 

I don't know what to think of Murray yet, the body of work is way too small, he moved his UFA's as any GM would do, but we don't know what the return will be yet. The immediate return doesn't seem so good, but it depends on how the prospects turn out to really judge if he did a good job or not and that could 2-3 years away.

[Rasmus_]

I like his tenacity, he seems like a lifer, and he has it engrained in his blood. His approach is methodical. I won't lie when I saw the Hudson Flasching/Deslauries deal I didn't understand trading two first round picks, but he's going for the talent he sees. His answers to the Buffalo media were candid and straight forward. He doesn't speculate and he is going to make changes. I really don't see what the big deal with Pat LaFontaine were unless he just did not want to completely gut the franchise or he felt like he was not really in the room. His presser was awesome and a breath of fresh air. His answer on Conacher was awesome. He was a free player. Someone posted earlier that he hopes it pisses a rookie off that he acquired CC. Just love that as soon as he's done with this he's going back to the board and focusing on more talent. Well we have our GM, so thank you for that Mr. LaFontaine.

[bob_sauve28]

This is what I'm hoping for, I want to see some good hockey next year, I'm "middle aged" and don't have the time to wait 2-3 years to see good hockey. As well I can't believe that the players or the majority of the fans buy into "tanking" for another year or two. To some, it may seem like a good idea now, but how long can you follow ###### hockey ? Ticket sales will suffer and the chance of getting good FA's or resigning your top players will be nearly non-existant. JMO

 

I don't know what to think of Murray yet, the body of work is way too small, he moved his UFA's as any GM would do, but we don't know what the return will be yet. The immediate return doesn't seem so good, but it depends on how the prospects turn out to really judge if he did a good job or not and that could 2-3 years away.

My question is, if they plan on tanking, how do you go out and sign talent? But they HAVE to spend money. So I'm not sure that tanking is even realistic

[LGR4GM]

I like his tenacity, he seems like a lifer, and he has it engrained in his blood. His approach is methodical. I won't lie when I saw the Hudson Flasching/Deslauries deal I didn't understand trading two first round picks, but he's going for the talent he sees. His answers to the Buffalo media were candid and straight forward. He doesn't speculate and he is going to make changes. I really don't see what the big deal with Pat LaFontaine were unless he just did not want to completely gut the franchise or he felt like he was not really in the room. His presser was awesome and a breath of fresh air. His answer on Conacher was awesome. He was a free player. Someone posted earlier that he hopes it pisses a rookie off that he acquired CC. Just love that as soon as he's done with this he's going back to the board and focusing on more talent. Well we have our GM, so thank you for that Mr. LaFontaine.

Quick correction, we traded 2 second round picks to LA. In fact we traded LA's 2014 2nd and LA's 2016 2nd back to them.

[papazoid]

In the past six days, the Sabres turned Moulson, Miller, Steve Ott, Brayden McNabb, Cody McCormick, two second-rounders, a third-round pick and the newly acquired Jaroslav Halak into Chris Stewart, Michal Neuvirth, Rostislav Klesla, prospects William Carrier, Hudson Fasching and Nicolas Deslauriers, Torrey Mitchell and three picks (a first and a pair of seconds). In the next two drafts, the Sabres have a staggering 10 picks in the first two rounds. This is coupled with a tremendous amount of cap flexibility going forward.

 

 

 

well done.

 

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=445398