Terry Murray
 

For all Flyers fans, do you think that Bobby Clarke's decision to fire Terry Murray was the right one?

Que?

http://baseballdeworld.com/wp-conten...left_field.jpg

maybe...but if things keep going the way they are, Murray will be coaching this team before March

It sure was. Why, look at all the Stanley Cups he won after they let him go.
Oh, wait.

Murray left as a coach to take over the job in LA

We don't have the forwards for his system

I think he's talking about the first time.

Yes, I was talking about the first time back in 97 after the Wings beat the Flyers in the Cup Finals.

He said his team choked..which they did but the Flyers brass couldn't handle the truth so he got axed. They almost had no choice since he basically lost confidence in his own team and team in him....he was a good coach though IMO but his ways can be stifling to a team in the long run.

There were strong rumors earlier in the season that Murray could be fired and names ranging from Dave Poulin to Pat Burns as replacements were mentioned. The Flyers rebounded and eventually beat teams with Gretzky and Lemieux in the playoffs before Murray made the infamous choking comment. Attempts to diffuse the situation were transparent. It really wasn't a question of if it was something waiting to happen. The dismissal wasn't something shocking, the reasons had immediacy and had changed, however.

Lindros also played a part in Terry Murray's firing. When Murray called them chokers, it was a teary eyed Lindros who went into Clarke's office and said that Murray didn't respect the players and the players didn't respect him.

Lindros continues to be unfairly blamed in this matter. If Murray
were truly a good coach, then why did it take him nearly 10 years to land another head coaching job? And, the Kings did not win the Stanley Cup UNTIL after Murray was fired and they hired Darryl Sutter.

This is the same Lindros whose frustrated lips I read on the bench when he said to LeClair.."I have no room out there." Dude was a linebacker on skates...he obviously could have made his own room but that left wing lock was pretty stifling I must admit. Still....as much as I loved when Lindros was on this team.... when he wasn't having fun (no thanks to his parents) he could at times be pretty petulant but of course Clarke making it personal in the press between the two didn't help either by Clarke's own admission later on.

I didn't want him fired at the time. I think it is strange for a coach to get his team to the finals and then be fired. I think the damage for the choking comment could have been healed.

I'm not blaming Lindros for Murray's firing. Lindros was the captain of the team at the time and several players (Brind'Amour and Desjardins included) had run ins with Murray. The choker comment was the final nail in the coffin. Once the team captain went to management about Murray, the writing was on the wall.

If there wasn't strain prior to the Finals, then perhaps. The prior season, the 1996 playoffs, there was much strife centering around the system and some players had questioned it, neglected to buy into it. The series against the Panthers was frustrating and the rumblings intensified. Clarke liked Murray and tried to quell the situation at that time. It wasn't hunky dory and then an explosion of turmoil because of the one comment during the 1997 Finals. Murray had his supporters: John LeClair, certainly. Shjon Podein really liked him and mentioned that certain players didn't buy into the system -- something, again, that was a primary focus in the prior season. When Wayne Cashman was hired, it was done in part to have a players' coach; the other leading candidate at the time was Keith Acton and for the same reasons. Mike Keenan was mentioned but that was a polar opposite thought.

The truth was Vernon stood on his head and Snow/Hextall bellied up. The Flyers did get killed in Gm 3, but the other 3 games could have turned out a little different if the Flyers had gotten decent goaltending. They didn't.