[Ed. Note: There has been a ton of debate on the site as to if we should can Bob Murray or not. Clearly from creating the petition to have him fired, I am not a fan. In a final effort to explain why the Ducks need to get rid of him now, I had to call in an expert, someone who has lived through the first Bob Murray regime. Give a big welcome to Sam Fels, Editor of Second City Hockey, the SBN site for Chicago Blackhawks fans. The Blackhawks were the first team under Murray's watch. Sure hindsight is 20/20, but Fels tells of a tale that took years to overcome.]
Ah, the Bob Murray parasite. Eating you from the inside. You don't feel anything at first, thinking the structure is too strong to be brought down from the inside. But then you wake up one day, and you're thinning out. Your joints hurt more than they should. You start gasping for air. And before you can even diagnose what's wrong, you're melting like Scratchy when attacked by the thousands of Itchys from the inside. You become paste.
I know the feeling, because we went through it here in Chicago. I know what it looks like, feels like. I recognize it now. I will give Bob a hint of a defense for his time here in Chicago. He worked for the worst owner in sports, and had his hands tied. Stars wouldn't be paid, and hence would be shipped out. But the return for those? Oh my lord. Even before he'd been officially named GM, Murray was pulling the strings the summer Jeremy Roenick hit restricted free agency. There was never a hint of a negotiation. JR, the organization's heart and soul and the fanbase's hero, was swapped out for Alexei Zhamnov. The Hawks were never the same (though neither was Roenick). Zhamnov provided a lot of nights with an effort that resembled an 8-year old cleaning his room, along with enough DUI's in the burbs to collect a full house.
Up next? Ed Belfour. The only goalie Hawks fans had warmed up to, when it was time for him to get paid he was sent to San Jose for Ulf Dahlen and Michal Sykora. Never heard of that Sykora? Neither had Petr, and that's his brother.
Chris Chelios could see the writing on the wall and wanted out, our local hero no longer with a desire to play for the team he grew up watching. What did Dealer Bob get for him? Anders Eriksson. You say you don't know him, but you do. He's clearing your table right now.
While having to ship off a team's core because of your owner's short arms isn't ideal, you're supposed to get assets back. Take a look again at what Bob got.
Drafting? Bob's first round picks when here were Steve McCarthy, Mark Bell, and Dan Cleary (before he sobered up and actually became somewhat useful for Detroit).
You're rotting from the inside Anaheim. We know the smell.