Anaheim Ducks Year in Review Part 1: Management

Well, it really was pretty close.

And what a ride for Game 7 in Detroit, eh Ducks fans?

Great valiant effort, and I'm actually going to go on record and say that the better team won.

But Detroit's just BARELY better.

Just a line or two deeper on the scoresheet.

I also have to take a picture in a Red Wings Jersey and post it here, because I lost a bet.

The don't have the heart and grit the Ducks do, and while many Detroit fans will call this "goonery" or malice, and all the Kings fans will say they'd rather cheer for a loser than a team of thugs, I just call it whining.

Detroit was great in this series, and without a team full of heart and some bounces, the Ducks would have been home sooner than game 7.

That said, the team that scratched and fought its wait to the 8th seed in the NHL's Western Conference was not the same as the one that struggled to play .500 hockey all season.

First, let's talk GM Bob Murray.

Murray inherited the team from Brian Burke, his successful, if not beloved, predecessor, in one of the weirdest ways possible.

The Toronto Maple Leafs (my favorite all time hockey club, sorry Ducks, I'm still that kid from rural Ontario, Canada, though you're a close 1b) have been pretty bad for some time. They're still the most profitable hockey club in the league, and stuck in their own pursuit of aging players past their prime for too much money, got handcuffed by the Salary cap. Heads rolled when they failed to make the playoffs again, and the GM was outed.

Enter Brian Burke - - a pure old school hockey guy. A guy who loves a challenge. A guy who once called the Toronto Franchise the equivalent of The Vatican for Catholics.

A guy who had a job with Anaheim.

Much surrounded Toronto's pursuit of a new GM. They hired Ron Wilson, close personal friend to Brian Burke, as the teams new Coach.

Rumors about Toronto's unofficial pursuit of Burke leaked from every Canadian news outlet. The only reason it didn't hit the Radar here was because hockey is still third or fourth sport in this market, depending on the NFL season. ANYWAY - -long story short - - Burke asked to be released from his contract, and ended up in Toronto, and the Ducks inherited his second in command, Bob Murray. Murray played a lot in the NHL, longtime Chicago Blackhawk, and great hockey guy.

They say hockey is the one sport where the GM's approach sets the tone for his team. Nowhere was this truer than Anaheim and the team that was put together under Burke. Murray inherited a talented group of hockey players: Great role players, up and coming phenoms, and veteran leadership.

This same group brought the cup to Anaheim in 2007, and had a dismal showing in the 2008 playoffs.

This group still struggled to get their mojo in 2009, suffering setbacks while long time veterans like Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne contemplated retirement, and didn't join the team right out of the gate.

Youngsters like Corey Perry and Ryan Getzlaf were seemingly stuck in the mud, too, trying to find the proper line combinations after salary cap problems forced the Ducks to Trade Andy MacDonald and his bag of skills to the St. Louis Blues in 2008.

Coach Randy Carlyle was forced all season long to shuffle lines, try new things, and see if he could find the "click" of great linemates that this club has espoused all over the ice.

Nothing worked.

Longtime Ducks, and fan favorites, were set to become free agents. The team couldn't get it going on any cylinder, and was looking like it wouldn't make the playoffs at all.

Enter Bob Murray.

In a flurry of deadline deals, Murray proceeded to ship key team role players for depth at the blue line and youth moving forward.

The Ducks shipped Sammy Pahlsson, Kent Huskins, Chris Kunitz, Eric O'dell, (Not Shane O'Brien, I'm retarded!)Travis Moen, and Steve Montador.

They got Petteri Nokalainen, Ryan Whitney, James Wiesnewski, among others, and Murray wasn't too popular on fan forums in Orange County that week.

The Ducks finished the Season with a 10-2-1 record, though, and jumped into the playoff frey, where they soon dismantled the top seeded San Jose Sharks and forced a game 7 with the second seed Detroit Red Wings.

Nobody said thanks to the new GM, so I'll take that opportunity now.

GREAT job at the trade deadline, Bob.

You outdid yourself.

Next up:YIR Part 2 Free Agents