The Ducks’ general manager search is expected to move into a new phase this week, according to weekend reports. The Ducks interviewed three internal candidates earlier this month, including interim GM Jeff Solomon, and have narrowed the field of external candidates to replace Bob Murray.
Pat Verbeek, a former NHL player who is an assistant general manager with the Detroit Red Wings, and Ryan Martin, an assistant GM with the New York Rangers who is a former Red Wings executive, are two outside candidates who had impressive interviews, according to reports.
According to a report in The Athletic, the Ducks have interviewed 10 candidates, including Solomon and assistant GMs Martin Madden and Dave Nonis. The Ducks reportedly declined to give the Montreal Canadiens permission to speak to Madden about their recent GM vacancy.
One possible scenario is that Madden will be named GM and Solomon and Nonis would be retained as assistant GMs. Madden is renowned as one of the top amateur scouts in the NHL, unearthing many of the Ducks’ late-round gems in the draft, including Josh Manson, a sixth-round pick in 2011.
Conventional wisdom suggested the Ducks would cast a wide net in their search for Murray’s replacement. The Ducks have moved deliberately, after adding Hall of Fame former players Paul Kariya and Scott Niedermayer to a search committee that includes team owners Henry and Susan Samueli.
A second round of interviews was set to begin this week, according to reports.
RIVALRY RENEWED?
The NHL’s realignment after the 2012-13 season, which moved the Red Wings into the Eastern Conference, served to cool one of the league’s hottest rivalries, dating to the Ducks’ inaugural game Oct. 8, 1993. The teams play only twice per season now, including Monday in Detroit.
In the beginning, Detroit coach Scotty Bowman disliked Ron Wilson, his Ducks counterpart. The Ducks disliked the way Bowman and the Red Wings played to the officials, believing they couldn’t get a call from the referees even if they paid for one, especially at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena.
The Ducks have won eight of 44 regular-season games in Detroit going into Monday.
The Red Wings sought every advantage they could in the playoffs. They painted the visitors’ dressing room before one series and turned up the thermostat to boiling during another. Then, during yet another series, a Ducks executive tossed Red Wings coach Mike Babcock out of the team’s offices.
Babcock, a former Ducks coach, claimed he was just saying “hello” to some old friends.
The executive wasn’t buying it and Babcock got the boot.
Six playoff series between the teams kept the fires burning, peaking with the Ducks’ six-game victory in the 2007 Western Conference final. Teemu Selanne’s overtime winner in Game 5 in Detroit was like an overdue exorcism for the Ducks and their fans. The Stanley Cup was soon in the Ducks’ hands.
Detroit won the next two series – in 2009, when Murray was sued by a Michigan woman who claimed he hit her with a chair after the Ducks’ loss in Game 7, and then in 2013, when the Ducks squandered a 3-2 lead and began a run of four consecutive Game 7 defeats at Honda Center.
A cooling off period followed, thanks to the league’s realignment.
Will it heat up again Monday?
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Ducks’ general manager search moving into new phase, reports say - OCRegister
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