A day after being placed on administrative leave, Ducks general manager Bob Murray has tendered his resignation and will enroll in an alcohol abuse program, per a team announcement. Jeff Solomon, who was named the interim GM yesterday pending an investigation into Murray, will retain that title for the time being. Murray released the following statement:
I want to apologize to anyone adversely affected by my behavior. I vow to make changes to my life, starting with enrolling in a treatment program. I want to thank Henry and Susan Samueli, and Michael Schulman, as working for them has been one of the highlights of my career. As I step away from the Ducks, I will focus my attention on where it should be: improving my life for the betterment of my family and friends.
Murray had been with the organization since 2005 when he joined them as their Senior VP of Hockey Operations and GM of their AHL affiliate which was in Portland at the time. The 66-year-old was promoted to GM midway through the 2008-09 campaign where he took over for Brian Burke, a role he had held ever since until today.
Over that stretch, Murray made a whopping 105 trades and signed 287 contracts, per CapFriendly. Among his notable signings were the eight-year deals handed to franchise mainstays Corey Perry ($69MM) and Ryan Getzlaf (66MM) which remain the richest contracts in franchise history plus the eight-year pacts that defenseman Cam Fowler ($52MM) and goaltender John Gibson ($51.2MM) are currently on, ones that have generally been viewed as team-friendly deals over the years. Anaheim made eight playoff appearances with Murray running the show, getting as far as the Western Conference Final in two of those years.
As for Solomon, he’s in his first year with Anaheim after being hired just a few months ago following 14 seasons in the front office for the Kings. It appears as if the interim GM title could very well be his through the end of the season; owners Henry and Susan Samueli indicated in a statement that they will now undergo a “methodical, extensive search” that they hope to complete no later than next summer. Accordingly, Solomon will have an opportunity to make a strong case for the full-time role; helping get Anaheim to the playoffs after missing three straight years would certainly help on that front; the Ducks are off to a good start with a 7-4-3 record early on, good enough for second in the Pacific Division and are definitely in the mix in the early going.
ESPN’s Emily Kaplan was the first to report Murray’s resignation.
Dave Nois is in the Organization!! Lol
Whose Dave Nois?
Dave Nonis maybe?
The Ex Canuck GM
@goalieguy41 & @lapcheung39 – Both of you have been disqualified by the late Art Fleming and the late Alex Trebek! The correct response is “Who is Dave Nonis?”
Art and Alex, I’ll take “Sketchy NHL GMs for $1000, please.”
Mac, you missed Chiarelli as the $1 answer so you have failed as well.
@wreckage – I’m afraid I must disagree here. Trader Pete isn’t part of the Ducks org (AFAWK, yet), and *definitely* isn’t the answer to the question. I’d go so far to say he’s not the answer to ANY question, other than “WTF was STL thinking?” and “WTF was EDM thinking?” But, I will agree that Chiarelli would be a $1 answer to a $1K question. We might be charitable with that saw buck, too! :)
:s
So I’m guessing some serious dirt was dug up on him. I sincerely hope it wasn’t anything as severe as what happened with the Blackhawks. Does anyone know what the allegations were?
No idea. The only possible hint to go on is this incident from 2009:
link to nhl.nbcsports.com
..and was settled in 2012. Murray was completely cleared and paid nothing:
link to cbssports.com
I really hate when people are publicly apologizing left and right for things and no one knows what they’re even talking about because we don’t get any details.
Agreed.
Not talking about what actually happened prevents full accountability and just invites needless speculation.
that’s suggesting it’s any of our business?
Sports seems to be the latest target in the cancel culture world. The sad thing is that these teams want to make it look like they are out in front of things but everyone misses how long it’s been since the incidents have occurred. Can’t tell me that this just started.
So…is it “cancel culture” or…were they not “canceled” soon enough? Or somehow both?
Yeah, stop holding people accountable! I hate the personal responsibility that this “cancel culture” is trying to hold people to!
It’s both. The only reason they acted is because of the cancel culture. If skeletons across leagues weren’t being dug up this goes unaddressed like it has been.
I have no problem with it, my point is simply that this isn’t something that just started last week and the only reason it happened is cause of the cancel culture. It’s not a negative, the negative is that people forget that the issue went unaddressed for how long?
Fair enough, you aren’t wrong about that.
“Cancel culture” implies, though, that the consequences aren’t deserved. Most times, they are. In this case, as mentioned above, who knows. But, seems likely given the swiftness and meekness of the departure.
To my mind “cancel culture” is a reaction to claims or general ‘offense’ whereby people scream via social media that someone or something should be removed.
In this situation there was a court case, and unfortunately due to legal technicalities Bob Murray wasn’t charged with assault. Such is the legal system.
Cancel Culture (imo) is if there was an accusation without any court or legal proceedings and everyone just decided he should lose his job. A “without merit moment”.
Sadly he retained his job until this was dug up again. Holding an organization accountable is not a bad thing. Imagine being the person who was assaulted. Shitty day is losing in court and shitty day again as he keeps his job and the world keeps it quiet.
Ooh exciting… I am awaiting moderation.
The Samueli’s issued a statement that said Bob will enter treatment for alcohol abuse (which Bob alludes to in his statement).
This guy was a morning boozer like no other. Never liked dealing with him. Walked around like he was better than everyone else. Was an average player.
Do you know him professionally?
Kar, he claims to be in the know…
he was connected to one of the worst NHL scandals of the leagues history. He got off due to courtroom semantics.
This guy is scum for playing his card this way. Regardless if he is just trying to bring attention to the closed case or make light of it.
His account should be closed. David Frost was as bad of a human as Graham James and the actual David Frost and Brad Aldrich. Just for brining the name up.
David Frost, NHLPA Agent no longer exists. He attempts to stay relevant, like this user.
I hope all 3 suffer horrible deaths for what they have done.
I have read this 10 times, and I still have no idea what is happening in this comment
All I know is I now need a Doritos Locos Taco.
@doritoslocostaco and theres really no point to grasp the logic behind the constant reddit levels of leftist hysteria going on here. @wreckage is a known fiend of jumping commenters and wishing people death. The guy goes full mental hard
Phew. I thought I was reading more into my comment… but I was just asking a question.
I hope Bob can get the help he needs and move forward with his life.
But folks, most of these players, past or present, aren’t saints. Run too fine a comb thru everyone’s life and we may have a worker shortage in NHL management!