Travis Yost: More MacLean

Hopefully, the exit interview went something like this:

Murray: So, uh, you played that 4th line a lot last season...

MacLean: Yep.

Murray: Why?

MacLean: they did what I asked of them.

Murray: Was it suck? Did you ask them to suck, Paul?

MacLean: No, they were on their assignments and getting it in deep.

Murray: Yeah, and kept it in there for all of 10 seconds a shift.

MacLean: True.

Murray: I'm trading Neil and Greening.

MacLean: I'm ok with that.

Murray: well then it's settled. Also, play our best players please and thank you.

MacLean: Understood.

Hopefully, the exit interview went something like this:

Murray: So, uh, you played that 4th line a lot last season...

MacLean: Yep.

Murray: Why?

MacLean: they did what I asked of them.

Murray: Was it suck? Did you ask them to suck, Paul?

MacLean: No, they were on their assignments and getting it in deep.

Murray: Yeah, and kept it in there for all of 10 seconds a shift.

MacLean: True.

Murray: I'm trading Neil and Greening.

MacLean: I'm ok with that.

Murray: well then it's settled. Also, play our best players please and thank you.

MacLean: Understood.
- TommyDeVito

i was going to say the same thing...but this is funnier than how I was gonna say it..so ill just agree with this haha

I have a feeling ,that Luke will be the head coach of this team before too long tbh

I like your blogs that come in around noon... that way I can eat lunch and read...

Thanks Travis!

I have a feeling ,that Luke will be the head coach of this team before too long tbh
- top shelf 15

It will be interesting to see. Paul had a good first year, and a dubious second year. Which Paul is the real one? I suppose we will see this upcoming season.

It will be interesting to see. Paul had a good first year, and a dubious second year. Which Paul is the real one? I suppose we will see this upcoming season.
- walshyleafsfan

Paul had a good first year, GREAT second year and horrible third year. I think he should be given at least next season and the one after. I mean when you look at the potential roster he will be given next year it will be a miracle just to make it into the playoffs.

I do agree that he needs to start giving more ice time to the younger players that need to increased minutes to develop. Hopefully Neil/Greening/Phillips and Anderson don't step in the way of the guys that are pushing them from behind who will be contributing for years to come hopefully.

It will be interesting to see. Paul had a good first year, and a dubious second year. Which Paul is the real one? I suppose we will see this upcoming season.
- walshyleafsfan

he's actually been the coach for 3 seasons.

year 1 - jack adams nomination
year 2 - jack adams winner
year 3 - bad

when he's nominated for coach of the year 66% of his tenure.....i'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for another year. if he poops the bed again next year, then you give the job to richardson.

Can you imagine any other teams GM basically saying "our coach is mean to the players"

In what other organization does that happen? Theirrien was seen yelling at his Norris Winner this year, Torteralla, Hitchcock, Sutter - if you look a round the league most coaches are demanding, it's in their job profile.

Maybe if Murray wasn't so concerned with being nice to everyone and put winning before being nice the team would of had a succefull year.

And to throw the guy under the bus who saved your job and turned your franchise around to me is mind boggling, I think Murray has had the worst year as a GM in his history - losing Alfie was bad enough but to hack your coach up at the end of the season you almost have to quesiton whether Murray still has the nads to be a GM anymore

Go back to work Steven. Yes you, get back to those org charts

he's actually been the coach for 3 seasons.

year 1 - jack adams nomination
year 2 - jack adams winner
year 3 - bad

when he's nominated for coach of the year 66% of his tenure.....i'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for another year. if he poops the bed again next year, then you give the job to richardson.
- sensarmy_11

Normal Life cycle:

year 1 - jack adams nomination
year 2 - jack adams winner
year 3 - bad
year 4 - Fired

Hope not

Can you imagine any other teams GM basically saying "our coach is mean to the players"

In what other organization does that happen? Theirrien was seen yelling at his Norris Winner this year, Torteralla, Hitchcock, Sutter - if you look a round the league most coaches are demanding, it's in their job profile.

Maybe if Murray wasn't so concerned with being nice to everyone and put winning before being nice the team would of had a succefull year.

And to throw the guy under the bus who saved your job and turned your franchise around to me is mind boggling, I think Murray has had the worst year as a GM in his history - losing Alfie was bad enough but to hack your coach up at the end of the season you almost have to quesiton whether Murray still has the nads to be a GM anymore
- tuna99

Spezza got a couple of coaches fired. I don't think we will ear that MacLean was too demanding next year. if you know what I mean

Hopefully, the exit interview went something like this:

MacLean: they did what I asked of them.

Murray: Was it suck? Did you ask them to suck, Paul?

.
- TommyDeVito

Can you imagine any other teams GM basically saying "our coach is mean to the players"

In what other organization does that happen? Theirrien was seen yelling at his Norris Winner this year, Torteralla, Hitchcock, Sutter - if you look a round the league most coaches are demanding, it's in their job profile.

Maybe if Murray wasn't so concerned with being nice to everyone and put winning before being nice the team would of had a succefull year.

And to throw the guy under the bus who saved your job and turned your franchise around to me is mind boggling, I think Murray has had the worst year as a GM in his history - losing Alfie was bad enough but to hack your coach up at the end of the season you almost have to quesiton whether Murray still has the nads to be a GM anymore
- tuna99

this whole post is ridiculous....don't even know where to start.

first, please provide the quote where murray said the coach was too mean. he said that in the exit interviews, the players said they preferred his old coaching style to his new coaching style.

as for worst year ever as GM, are you serious? he brought in bobby ryan, and made one of, if not THE best UFA signings of the offseason. if you blame the alfie thing on murray, then you're completely delusional. murray was doing what he was told by melnyk......it was scrooge who blasted alfi in the media, i never heard murray utter one negative syllable about him.

you're reading 3 words, and turning it into 1000 words, and are taking them completely out of context.

this whole post is ridiculous....don't even know where to start.

first, please provide the quote where murray said the coach was too mean. he said that in the exit interviews, the players said they preferred his old coaching style to his new coaching style.

as for worst year ever as GM, are you serious? he brought in bobby ryan, and made one of, if not THE best UFA signings of the offseason. if you blame the alfie thing on murray, then you're completely delusional. murray was doing what he was told by melnyk......it was scrooge who blasted alfi in the media, i never heard murray utter one negative syllable about him.

you're reading 3 words, and turning it into 1000 words, and are taking them completely out of context.
- sensarmy_11

Tuna being Tuna!

Perhaps his demanding style led to his questionable usage? If he's got an imaginary line built up that says Neil-Smith-Greening were doing SOME job, perhaps the other players weren't doing that same thing, whatever the hell that is. Getting scored on a lot wasn't it because the line was kept intact. Maybe "energy and grit" or whatever other BS term gets thrown around for "guys who can't score AND managed to get scored on"

this whole post is ridiculous....don't even know where to start.

first, please provide the quote where murray said the coach was too mean. he said that in the exit interviews, the players said they preferred his old coaching style to his new coaching style.

as for worst year ever as GM, are you serious? he brought in bobby ryan, and made one of, if not THE best UFA signings of the offseason. if you blame the alfie thing on murray, then you're completely delusional. murray was doing what he was told by melnyk......it was scrooge who blasted alfi in the media, i never heard murray utter one negative syllable about him.

you're reading 3 words, and turning it into 1000 words, and are taking them completely out of context.
- sensarmy_11

Well then if the GM is letting the Owner run the team then he is senile.

yeah, the team did great this year, predicted to be a real Cup threat they came 20th overall in the league, they are about to trade their new Captain, he takes a slice out of his coach at the end of the season and the coach is gving interviews in the press saying EVEN he can't follow Murray's post season comments, he is letting his owner make trades and he makes a deadline trade for a rental player who has no intention of signing - everything in Ottawa is just great, not to mention Erik Karlsson played 82 games of hockey only skating in one direction.

How did Murray have a good year? This was one of if not the worst season in Sens history. The fan base is aggravated, they hate the owner, Murray seems senile, he and the coach are at odds and there's no hope on the horizon.

The Sens are in no mans' land - not a real playoff threat, not a rebuilding team, we're just there, we're the Winnipeg Jets of the East

Tuna being Tuna!
- riceroni

Tuna a ricearoni go well together!!!

Tuna a ricearoni go well together!!!
- tuna99

You are good at creating a discussion Tuna... I will give you that.. you and Connor Smyth

Well then if the GM is letting the Owner run the team then he is senile.

yeah, the team did great this year, predicted to be a real Cup threat they came 20th overall in the league, they are about to trade their new Captain, he takes a slice out of his coach at the end of the season and the coach is gving interviews in the press saying EVEN he can't follow Murray's post season comments, he is letting his owner make trades and he makes a deadline trade for a rental player who has no intention of signing - everything in Ottawa is just great, not to mention Erik Karlsson played 82 games of hockey only skating in one direction.

How did Murray have a good year? This was one of if not the worst season in Sens history. The fan base is aggravated, they hate the owner, Murray seems senile, he and the coach are at odds and there's no hope on the horizon.

The Sens are in no mans' land - not a real playoff threat, not a rebuilding team, we're just there, we're the Winnipeg Jets of the East
- tuna99

the GM letting the guy who owns the team call the shots somehow makes him senile?

and murray is supposed to take the blame because the media (and yes, it was the media) set unrealistic expectations for the team, and the goalies both took big steps backwards in their games.....that's ALL on murray.

and if you think this was the worst season in franchise history, them i'm assuming you've only been a sens fan for about 3 years.

you claim twice that the coach and gm are at odds, yet murray could have easily fired maclean, and been somewhat justified in doing so, and chose to keep him. murray made one comment about the players liking the "old paul" better, and the almight tuna runs with it, claiming that there's a big issue between teh coach and the GM......the same tuna who claimed for a whole year that karlsson was unhappy and would surely demanad a trade.

you are LITREALLY the most clueless sens fan i have ever seen. you take the tiniest ant hill, completely take it in the wrong direction, and turn it into Mt. Everest........it's called "tuna 101"

You are good at creating a discussion Tuna... I will give you that.. you and Connor Smyth
- riceroni

i forgot about that guy........"karlsson is holding cowen back, and hurting his game"

i take it back tuna, you're only the second most clueless sens fan.

via Mendes:

Dorion on Michalek/Hemsky: "We'd like to keep both if we could. But they have to accept where they fit into our scheme money-wise."

I think AH is probably gone, but the Milo bit is interesting.

the GM letting the guy who owns the team call the shots somehow makes him senile?

and murray is supposed to take the blame because the media (and yes, it was the media) set unrealistic expectations for the team, and the goalies both took big steps backwards in their games.....that's ALL on murray.

and if you think this was the worst season in franchise history, them i'm assuming you've only been a sens fan for about 3 years.

you claim twice that the coach and gm are at odds, yet murray could have easily fired maclean, and been somewhat justified in doing so, and chose to keep him. murray made one comment about the players liking the "old paul" better, and the almight tuna runs with it, claiming that there's a big issue between teh coach and the GM......the same tuna who claimed for a whole year that karlsson was unhappy and would surely demanad a trade.

you are LITREALLY the most clueless sens fan i have ever seen. you take the tiniest ant hill, completely take it in the wrong direction, and turn it into Mt. Everest........it's called "tuna 101"
- sensarmy_11

Agreed.

The ONLY thing we can fault Murray on this season was overvaluing his Dmen. The Ryan trade looks better and better every day. Silverberg is just ok. I don't see him ever becoming a star in this league. Noesen may not even make the league, let alone crack a top 6 and the 10th overall is pretty much equivalent to a 25th overall in any other draft year.

Now that we know Ryan wants to come back, the Sens clearly won this trade.

The thing is, Murray is handcuffed. He has no cash to spend. I'm sure if he did have the money, he would have brought in Hemsky about a month before he did and given the Sens a legitimate shot at making a run for the playoffs.

Looking back at last season, I can see how people would fault Mac for his horrible time management, and Melnyk for being.. well Melnyk.. but I'm not sure how you can throw it at Murray.

Considering what he has to work with, he is one of the best GMs in the league. Give any other GM a lunatic owner who won't let you spend and the results (not to mention quotes in the media) would be much worse.

the GM letting the guy who owns the team call the shots somehow makes him senile?

and murray is supposed to take the blame because the media (and yes, it was the media) set unrealistic expectations for the team, and the goalies both took big steps backwards in their games.....that's ALL on murray.

and if you think this was the worst season in franchise history, them i'm assuming you've only been a sens fan for about 3 years.

you claim twice that the coach and gm are at odds, yet murray could have easily fired maclean, and been somewhat justified in doing so, and chose to keep him. murray made one comment about the players liking the "old paul" better, and the almight tuna runs with it, claiming that there's a big issue between teh coach and the GM......the same tuna who claimed for a whole year that karlsson was unhappy and would surely demanad a trade.

you are LITREALLY the most clueless sens fan i have ever seen. you take the tiniest ant hill, completely take it in the wrong direction, and turn it into Mt. Everest........it's called "tuna 101"
- sensarmy_11

the old blame the media trick, nice one but we're not buying your fox news attempts to give a free pass to Murray.

Everyone in Ottawa had a bad season, if you think Murray didn't expect us to be a playoff team explain this quote he gave at the beginning of the season

"we are a better team then last season, no question"

You can't blame that one on the media.

And hey, you're only argument here is that the Sens did improve a bit, but there were 20 other NHL teams that improved significantly over Ottawa. I'll let you chew on that one for a while.

If you're in the camp that all of Murray's mistakes are a result of Melnyk's meddling (Kovalev signing, Alfie leaving, trading for Hemsky, unmet expectations, all the coaches he hired before Maclean) and he gets credit for all his good moves (Mac signing, Anderson trade) then I understand how your brain works:

Good things = Come from Shawville
Bad things = Come from everywhere else that isn't Shawville

Have you ever been to the Shawville fair? It's really awesome, better then any other fair in the world....and if you don't have a great time blame Eugene Melnyk.

Agreed.

The ONLY thing we can fault Murray on this season was overvaluing his Dmen. The Ryan trade looks better and better every day. Silverberg is just ok. I don't see him ever becoming a star in this league. Noesen may not even make the league, let alone crack a top 6 and the 10th overall is pretty much equivalent to a 25th overall in any other draft year.

Now that we know Ryan wants to come back, the Sens clearly won this trade.

The thing is, Murray is handcuffed. He has no cash to spend. I'm sure if he did have the money, he would have brought in Hemsky about a month before he did and given the Sens a legitimate shot at making a run for the playoffs.

Looking back at last season, I can see how people would fault Mac for his horrible time management, and Melnyk for being.. well Melnyk.. but I'm not sure how you can throw it at Murray.

Considering what he has to work with, he is one of the best GMs in the league. Give any other GM a lunatic owner who won't let you spend and the results (not to mention quotes in the media) would be much worse.
- Charliebox

i agree about murray being one of the better GMs. he doesn't have the limitless budgets that some of the big market teams do (boston, toronto, new york, etc), and still managed to ice a competitive team. unlike most teams in the leauge, murray hasn't handcuffed the organization with a bunch of long term, big money, unmovable contracts, and has assembled a pretty solid young core of players.

he's obviously made some mistakes.....greening extension, re-signing phillips..........but these are minor mistakes when comparing them to the "schneider/luongo's" and "david clarkson's" of the NHL.

he might be the most handcuffed gm in the entire league, and has still managed to put a pretty decent team together. i'd say they're 1-2 players, and maybe a year of development, away from being a consistent playoff team.......and hopefully from there, a contender.