Ducks’ Bob Murray: We’re righting the ship

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Ducks General Manager Bob Murray, who on Friday agreed to a four-year extension through the 2015-16 season, said he first talked to Michael Schulman, the team’s chief executive officer, about an extension in December and that the two were able to come to an agreement quickly once their schedules meshed and they could talk at length.

‘I’m very proud they’ve given me the ship to go forward,’ Murray said Friday before the Ducks’ game against Minnesota at the Honda Center. ‘We won a Cup and did all the right things, and along the way we got into some jams. I think we’ve done an OK job positioning ourselves to right the ship again.’

The Ducks missed the playoffs last season for the first time since the 2003-04 season. A four-game losing streak has dropped them to 11th in the Western Conference with 68 points, but the teams ranked sixth through 10th each have 70 points, a gap that’s not impossible for the Ducks to make up if they can straighten out their goaltending situation and retrench soon.

Murray said Schulman and owners Henry and Susan Samueli ‘give me a budget and don’t interfere. I work for good people.’

Murray, who has recently pulled off trades to acquire winger Jarkko Ruutu and goaltender Dan Ellis, said he’s still talking to other general managers in advance of Monday’s noon PST trade deadline.
‘I don’t want to touch the team if I don’t have to,’ he said. ‘I want us to get healthy again. For a while, we were a good team, when we were healthy.”

-- Helene Elliott