Ottawa Senators' General Manager Bryan Murray finalising candidates for coaching position –NHL Update
After Cory Clouston was relieved of his duties as Ottawa Senators’ head coach by the team’s General Manager, Bryan Murray, at the end of the regular season, Murray has been on the search for a replacement ever since and now there are three final candidates
in consideration.
"What I'm finding out is there's a number of very qualified people out there that are interesting to talk to", Murray said on Wednesday after the NHL's GMs meeting. "Even as long as I've been in the game you learn from each and every one of them”.
Clouston was made coach during the 2009-2010 regular season which ended fairly well for the Senators, reaching the playoffs with 94 points but getting knocked out in the first round.
The following season was a nightmare for Ottawa as they plummeted to the lower depths of the National Hockey League’s Western Conference rankings to the 13th spot, nowhere near the top eight finalists.
Boasting an embarrassing 32-40-70 record before the start of the 2011 NHL Playoffs, Bryan Murray was forced to take drastic actions to improve the team and bring it back to what it was like once in its prime.
A recent addition to the finalists for the head coach position was Kurt Kleinendorst, the coach of Ottawa’s farm league team, Binghamton Senators, who led his team to its first successful American Hockey League (AHL) Calder Cup Finals stretch.
Clouston was also a former coach of Binghmanton Senators in AHL, but Kleinendorst’s performance is considered to be much higher and speaks for itself as the minor Senators bring home the Calder Cup.
"Obviously, (Kleinendorst) has done pretty well and we want to talk to him", Murray said on Tuesday after the AHL Calder Cup Finals concluded.
All this is certainly a process of raising Ottawa Senators to become a better team instead of sitting around and watching the team decline year by year.
Many teams have faced this in recent years because of the lack of performance and eventually it is the teams’ image that is tarnished.
Luckily for Ottawa, its GM has taken bold action almost immediately and there was no hesitation.
The decision will be expected to be announced in a week, but according to Murray, no final date has been set as of yet.
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