Ottawa Senators general manager Bryan Murray will likely step down after this season, according to the Ottawa Citizen.
Murray revealed in November that he has Stage 4 colon cancer, but has continued to perform as many of his professional duties as possible.
“I think I’ve got to take a look at it at the end of this year,” Murray told the Citizen in a one-on-one interview. “My wife would like me to take off. Geri’s been good, though. She says, ‘I know you have to have something to do.’ I don’t know whether I can just put my feet up.”
Likely to take on an advisory role with the Senators, Murray has been encouraged by owner Eugene Melnyk to select his successor.
“All Eugene said to me was, ‘you’re going to pick the next guy, Bryan. Work with me on it, but you come up with when you’re going to transfer it over.’”
After being diagnosed on June 23, Murray revealed he had cancer in a statement on July 7. However, the severity of his illness wasn’t made public until a Nov. 13 interview with TSN. Murray has been undergoing chemotherapy since being diagnosed.
“There is no cure at this point for me,” Murray said in the interview. “The word is that we’ll keep doing chemo and hopefully reduce the tumours and the effect and I’ll get some time out of that.”
The other NHL general managers plan to honour Murray at the annual GM meetings in Florida this March.
With files from Canadian Press
