In the first few seasons following the Ottawa Senators’ 2007 Stanley Cup Final appearance, general manager Bryan Murray took some heat for the way this organization had its window of Cup contention close.
Of course, looking back in retrospect, blaming Murray for not making the best of inheriting a situation in which John Muckler’s inane decision-making on elite players was compounded by a poor draft record and the fact that aggressively moved whatever prospects he could to acquire depth complementary short-term fixes, was reductively silly.
Yes, the Senators’ franchise fell off a cliff following their lone Stanley Cup Final appearance, but acting that like was the apex or best team that the organization ever assembled is wrong.