How Bob Murray of the Anaheim Ducks won GM of the Year
Bob Murray was named the 2014 NHL General Manager of the Year after voting "conducted among the 30 Club General Managers and a panel of NHL executives, print and broadcast media at the conclusion of the regular season." (Note: voting was actually extended through Round 2 of the playoffs.)
The Anaheim Ducks GM beat out Dean Lombardi of the Los Angeles Kings and Marc Bergevin of the Montreal Canadiens.
From the NHL:
Murray paved the way for the finest season in Ducks history, leading the team to its second straight Pacific Division title; the top record in the Western Conference for the first time in club history; and franchise records in wins (54), points (116), points percentage (.707), home wins (29) and road wins (25). He set the Ducks up for success by re-signing Matt Beleskey, Saku Koivu, Ben Lovejoy and Kyle Palmieri as well as enticing Teemu Selanne to return for one final season. Murray also traded for Mathieu Perreault during the preseason; added depth players in Mark Fistric, Tim Jackman, Stephane Robidas and Jakob Silfverberg; and oversaw the development of young goaltenders Frederik Andersen and John Gibson.
Here's what the voting looked like:
Two of the last three winners of this award (Ray Shero and Mike Gillis) were both fired this season. Guess that means bad news for Murray in about a year's time.
Interesting that Jim Nill received the third-most first place votes among the bunch. You could make a case what he did with the Dallas Stars in his first year deserved to place him among the top three.
OK, who gave Dale Tallon a vote?
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
