Ducks GM Murray: Players 'decided training camp for this season was optional'
It wasn't supposed to be this way in Orange County, Calif.
Thirty-three games into the season, the Anaheim Ducks sit last in the Western Conference - and 29th in the NHL - with 30 points. Their minus-23 goal differential is also last in the West and 29th in the league. More shockingly, the team - which boasts the likes of Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry - has scored just 62 goals (averaging 1.8 per game) this season.
And general manager Bob Murray has had about enough. While he takes responsibility as the architect of the team, as the man who made a handful of changes during the offseason, Murray put his players on blast in a piece by the Orange County Register's Eric Stephens.
Gone are Francois Beauchemin, Matt Beleskey, Emerson Etem, Kyle Palmieri, and Devante Smith-Pelly. In their stead came Kevin Bieksa, Carl Hagelin, Mike Santorelli, Jiri Sekac, and Chris Stewart. Murray knows the moves haven't panned out, but he's most disappointed with the Ducks' old guard rather than the team's new blood.
"Let's be clear on one thing, putting all the blame on the incoming players would be totally unfair," Murray said. "We had far too many returning players who decided training camp for this season was optional, thus a poor start.
"After succeeding during the past few regular seasons, suddenly we are underachieving and having to handle adversity, and some are not physically prepared to work through the challenge."
Getzlaf has one goal - an empty-netter. Perry's the only Ducks player to score 10 or more goals, but 11 for him after 33 games is below the standard he's set. Ryan Kesler has four goals and eight assists. Andrew Cogliano and Jakob Silfverberg have three goals each - or one fewer than Santorelli, and as many as Hagelin. It's ugly.
"The greatest fear when so many people have changed is the chemistry of the group on and off the ice," Murray added. "So far there is no cohesion - we do not seem to be thinking and competing on the same page."
The Ducks are coming off a trip to the Western Conference finals in the spring. They lost game seven to the Chicago Blackhawks. They were up 3-2 in the series, a win away from the Stanley Cup Final twice, but couldn't get it done. This after back-to-back 50-win seasons. And now head coach Bruce Boudreau's fighting for his job every night. A stunning collapse, in other words. And Anaheim's running out of time to fix what is wrong.
Problem is, Murray feels like he can't do much. And about the only thing that's gone right has been in goal, where Frederik Andersen and John Gibson have given the team a chance - if only it could score.
"There's only a few times a year you can make significant changes to your team - the draft/free-agency time period and the trade deadline. There's been only one trade this year for a reason.
"In saying that, at this point I don't think any player could be surprised or shocked if he were to be traded."
The trade deadline is Feb. 29. It's coming. And so is the reality of a lost season, with Getzlaf and Perry set to turn 31 in the spring. The Ducks are officially on notice.