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NHL DRAFTJune 27, 2014Bob MurrayPHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA Q. How excited are you about having Ryan Kesler? BOB MURRAY: Well, after the season, in reviewing things we knew we had to fill that‑‑ not that he's a second‑line center, but we knew we needed somebody behind Ryan Getzlaf, and I think this is a huge move for our hockey team. I think we're better today than we were yesterday. I know Ryan from years ago when I was with Vancouver, so that's a good thing, also. Q. What kind of sense from Ryan had you got about his excitement about coming to Anaheim because obviously he controlled his own fate in terms of where he wanted to play hockey. BOB MURRAY: Well, just the fact that he chose‑‑ the two teams he wanted to go to was very positive for us to be included in that, because not always have we been included in things like this. To me it means our organization is going the right direction. Q. How much of a move like this do you see the Kings and knowing you have to go through them to get to the Western Conference? BOB MURRAY: Well, it's a hard division and the whole Western Conference is very difficult, and going up against the LA's, the San Joses, and even Dallas, I think Dallas is on the way now, too, our middle had to get stronger. Unfortunately we had to give up Nick in the deal, but we just had to get stronger down the middle of the ice. Q. How hard did you try to get Ryan at the deadline, and there was a feeling in Vancouver that maybe they just didn't really want to trade him within the division and that's why they were looking at the East. Did you get a sense they were willing to deal with you? BOB MURRAY: We tried‑‑ a few teams tried very hard at the deadline, and I think they just felt at that time that they weren't ready to make the move, and I understood that because they didn't move him. But we did try very hard at the deadline. Q. And Nick Bonino was a guy whose name didn't come up much at that time. It was a couple of other prospects. Did you have to upgrade that component of it do you think to get this‑‑ BOB MURRAY: Jimmy, this was fairly straightforward in what he asked for from the beginning and it was how far I was willing to go with certain things. But Jim was straightforward. It was a pretty honest, straightforward dealing. Q. How important was getting that No.10 pick? BOB MURRAY: It's one thing I told him right off the bat in any other conversations I had with people. We really wanted to keep the 10, and so far we have kept it. Q. What are you looking to do with that pick? BOB MURRAY: Draft a player. (Laughter). Nothing special. We're just going to pick the player we want to‑‑ when we get to that number. Q. How do you feel now this team stacks up, whether it's Los Angeles or a potential playoff match‑up against a team like Chicago or some of the other teams that you've mentioned? What do you think makes‑‑ what does Ryan Kesler do for this team specifically? BOB MURRAY: Well, he's a very good playoff player. He's a heart and soul guy. We weren't very good on face‑offs all year. He's very good on face‑offs. He's an excellent penalty killer, played the power play. Just having those two guys back to back, the two Ryans, it makes Mr.Getzlaf's life a little easier right now, too, so I think we're going to be a harder team to play against right now. Q. How do you think teams will like having Ryan Kesler and Corey Perry going against them? BOB MURRAY: I like it. (Laughter). Q. Still want to address the defense maybe? BOB MURRAY: If I can. If I can. It's something‑‑ a former defenseman, I wasn't totally happy this year with some of the things that went on, but we brought Trent Yawney on board who I think will help tremendously with the defensemen. If there's something available, we'll work on it. Q. How much more active do you plan on being? BOB MURRAY: There's lots of talk going on, as you can see, Vancouver has been very busy. I think there's some more things that will happen, whether I'm involved or not. But I have a feeling there's going to be much more movement. Whether it's Anaheim or not, I'm not sure. Q. How well did you know Jimmy when he got the job in Vancouver? BOB MURRAY: We'd always scouted. He's a scouting background, I'm a scouting background, so we'd see each other all the time. Not real close, but we always knew each other and I respected the work he did in Boston for sure. Q. Does it surprise you how much he has done today? He seems very decisive. BOB MURRAY: Again, he was good to deal with. I enjoyed dealing with him, and he was very straight, and I knew he had other things going on at the same time. I knew he had a lot going on. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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