News broke recently that the Sabres have received permission to interview Ottawa Senators assistant general manager Tim Murray, the latest candidate for the still-open position of Sabres general manager.
Confirmed Sabres have received permission to speak to Sens AGM Tim Murray about GM job. Not sure when those talks will take place. #Sens
— Bruce Garrioch (@SunGarrioch) December 2, 2013
Murray is the nephew of Senators general manager Brian Murray, and has served as assistant GM for Ottawa since the summer of 2007. In addition to his duties for the Senators, he also serves as the GM for the Binghamton Senators of the AHL.
Both Senators teams have seen success over the past few seasons, with Ottawa becoming a surprise playoff contender over the past few years thanks to good drafting (hello, Erik Karlsson) and savvy signings, while Binghamton won the Calder Cup in 2011.
The 50-year old Murray doesn’t have the Stanley Cup on his resume that LaFontaine is rumored to be looking for, but he was with Anaheim during their Cup loss as director of player personnel. He’s well-thought of in Ottawa, and has been heavily involved in their recent drafts, something which will be of utmost importance in Buffalo.
Here’s what our own Sens blog, Silver Seven, had to say about him last season:
I have always been a fan of Bryan Murray, even during the dark ages (TM), and he deserves oodles and oodles of credit for rebuilding and turning this team around. But alongside him every step of the way has been Tim. He has done a great job the last few years of luring quality veterans to Binghamton, and it is TIM who runs the scouting department with Pierre Dorian. He is an extremely good judge of talent.
The natural thing (unless things blow up in Sens Universe again) would be for Tim to take over as GM when his uncle retires. I just hope that happens before someone else scoops him up, because he’s quite the catch.
What do you think about the possibility of bringing someone named Murray, albeit the younger, assistant one, to the Sabres front office?