Bryan Clarence Murray (December 5, 1942 – August 12, 2017) was a Canadian professional ice hockey executive and coach. He served as general manager of the Ottawa Senators of the National Hockey League (NHL) from 2007 to 2016. He had previously been general manager of the NHL's Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, Florida Panthers, and Detroit Red Wings. He was also the head coach for the Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Mighty Ducks of Anaheim, and Ottawa Senators, for a total of 17 full or partial seasons.

He compiled over 600 NHL victories in regular season games. In his 13 full NHL seasons as head coach, he took his teams to the playoffs 12 times. In other leagues, he was head coach of the American Hockey League's Hershey Bears and the Western Hockey League's Regina Pats.

Early life

Murray played ice hockey in his hometown of Shawville growing up, joining the Shawville Pontiacs intermediate club at age 14. He later joined the Rockland Nationals of the Central Junior Hockey League. He attended Macdonald College, a suburban campus of McGill University, which is located in Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec, where he played hockey and football. He returned to Shawville and worked as a gym teacher

Early coaching career

Murray began his coaching career with the Rockland Nationals in 1976 when the team went all the way and won the Centennial Cup of the Canadian Junior Hockey League (CJHL).

NHL coach and general manager

In seven full seasons with the Capitals, Murray brought the team to the playoffs each year, and these playoff appearances were the first in franchise history. In his second year, the Capitals won their first playoff series. However, his teams did not advance beyond the second round. He won the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in 1984. Murray was fired partway through the 1989–90 season, with the team struggling, and was replaced by his brother Terry Murray.

In 1990, Murray became a coach and general manager of the Detroit Red Wings.

Craig Hartsburg was hired as the new coach of the team in June 2008. After the Senators struggled for most of the 2008–09 season, Murray fired Hartsburg after a 7–4 loss against the Capitals. In 48 games as head coach of the Senators, Hartsburg posted a 17–24–7 record. Cory Clouston, head coach of the AHL's Binghamton Senators, the team's top farm club, was hired as interim head coach. Clouston was appointed as head coach with a two-year contract before the next season.

Murray signed a three-year contract extension as general manager on April 8, 2011. He fired Clouston and two assistant coaches on April 9, 2011, following the Senators' last game of the season. The team had been beset by injuries to key players such as captain Daniel Alfredsson and star forward Jason Spezza, leading to a mid-season collapse. Murray made a flurry of trades in 2011, after the Senators had fallen out of contention, and promoted many younger players from the team's Binghamton farm club.

In 2012, Murray was added to the Shawville Hockey Walk of Fame. In 2017, he was added to the Senators' "Ring of Honour" at Canadian Tire Centre.

His younger brother, Terry Murray, was head coach for the Washington Capitals, Philadelphia Flyers, Florida Panthers, and Los Angeles Kings. His nephew, Tim Murray, previously served under Bryan as assistant general manager of the Senators, and later served as the general manager of the Buffalo Sabres.

Health and death

In July 2014, the Senators website announced Murray was diagnosed with cancer and was undergoing treatment. On November 13, 2014, Murray announced he had stage 4 colon cancer, which had spread to his liver and lungs. He said "there is no cure for me at this point" and that he may have had cancer for up to ten years before its detection.

On August 12, 2017, Murray died of colon cancer at the age of 74, three years after he was diagnosed. Senators' goaltender Craig Anderson unveiled a new mask for the 2018-19 season which featured Murray's likeness on the left side with the caption "1942-2017". Designed by Sylvie Marsolais, the mask design was Anderson's way of thanking the man who brought him to Ottawa in 2011. "My career took a turn for the better once I met Bryan," said Anderson.

Coaching record

{| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;"

|-

! rowspan="2"|Team !! rowspan="2"|Year !! colspan="7"|Regular season !! colspan="3"|Postseason

|-

! G !! W !! L !! T !! OTL !! Pts !!Finish !! W !! L !! Result

|-

!WSH||1981–82

|66||25||28||13||—||(63)||5th in Patrick||-||-||Missed playoffs

|- style="background:#fdd;"

!WSH||1982–83

|80||39||25||16||—||94||3rd in Patrick||1||3||Lost in Division Semifinals (NYI)

|- style="background:#fdd;"

!WSH||1983–84

|80||48||27||5||—||101||2nd in Patrick||4||4||Lost in Division Finals (NYI)

|- style="background:#fdd;"

!WSH||1984–85

|80||46||25||9||—||101||2nd in Patrick||2||3||Lost in Division Semifinals (NYI)

|- style="background:#fdd;"

!WSH||1985–86

|80||50||23||7||—||107||2nd in Patrick||5||4||Lost in Division Finals (NYR)

|- style="background:#fdd;"

!WSH||1986–87

|80||38||32||10||—||86||2nd in Patrick||3||4||Lost in Division Semifinals (NYI)

|- style="background:#fdd;"

!WSH||1987–88

|80||38||33||9||—||85||3rd in Patrick||7||7||Lost in Division Finals (NJD)

|- style="background:#fdd;"

!WSH||1988–89

|80||41||29||10||—||92||1st in Patrick||2||4||Lost in Division Semifinals (PHI)

|-

!WSH||1989–90

|46||18||24||4||—||(40)||(fired)||—||—||—

|- style="background:#fdd;"

!DET||1990–91

|80||34||38||8||—||76||3rd in Norris||3||4||Lost in Division Semifinals (STL)

|- style="background:#fdd;"

!DET||1991–92

|80||43||25||12||—||98||1st in Norris||4||7||Lost in Division Finals (CHI)

|- style="background:#fdd;"

!DET||1992–93

|84||47||28||9||—||103||2nd in Norris||3||4||Lost in Division Semifinals (TOR)

|-

!FLA||1997–98

|59||17||31||11||—||(45)||6th in Atlantic||-||-||Missed playoffs

|-

!ANA||2001–02

|82||29||42||8|||3||69||5th in Pacific||-||-|||Missed playoffs

|- style="background:#fdd;"

!OTT||2005–06

|82||52||21||—||9||113||1st in Northeast||5||5||Lost in Conference Semifinals (BUF)

|- style="background:#fdd;"

!OTT||2006–07

|82||48||25||—||9||105||2nd in Northeast||13||7||Lost in Stanley Cup Finals (ANA)

|- style="background:#fdd;"

!OTT||2007–08

|18||7||9||—||2||(16)||2nd in Northeast||0||4||Lost in Conference Quarterfinals (PIT)

|-

! colspan="2"|WSH Total ||672||343||246||83||—||769||1 Division title||24||29||7 playoff appearances

|-

! colspan="2"|DET Total ||244||124||91||29||—||277||1 Division title||10||15||3 playoff appearances

|-

! colspan="2"|OTT Total ||182||107||55||—||20||234||1 Division title||18||16||3 playoff appearances

|-

! colspan="2"|ANA Total ||82||29||42||8||3||69||0 Division titles||—||—||0 playoff appearances

|-

! colspan="2"|FLA Total ||59||17||31||11||—||45||0 Division titles||—||—||0 playoff appearances

|-

! colspan="2"|Total ||1,239||620||465||131||23||1,394||3 Division titles||52||60||13 playoff appearances

|}

References

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  • Ottawa Sun profile
  • Ottawa at Home profile