Anaheim Ducks general manager Bob Murray wasted little time making significant organizational changes after his team was upset in the opening round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Murray fired head coach Bruce Boudreau two days after the Ducks lost a Game 7 at home to the Nashville Predators and it could be the first of many off-season changes.
Anaheim has seven pending unrestricted free agents, including wingers David Perron, Jamie McGinn and Chris Stewart, and have to make decisions on restricted free agents Frederik Andersen, Sami Vatanen, Hampus Lindholm, Rickard Rakell and Brandon Pirri.
“I’m not sure what Bob has in store,” Anaheim forward Corey Perry told Hockey Central at Noon Thursday. “There’s a lot of great guys in that dressing room and you don’t want to see anybody go because we know deep down inside that you can win with that group of players in there.
“I thought Bruce was a tremendous coach. He’s a guy you can go in and talk to at any point in time and he’s a players’ coach. I thought his firing – obviously it was tough – but it wasn’t on him. It was on the players that were out on the ice.”
Perry, the Ducks’ leading goal scorer six years running, has typically been a catalyst for Anaheim’s offence, but the 2011 Hart Trophy winner went goalless in seven games against the Predators.
“Those things, they’re going to sting for a while,” Perry said. “We had a great team. It was a great group of guys in that locker-room and everybody went to bat for each other. I think this one’s going to sting a little more than in the past, knowing what kind of team we had and the damage we’ve done since January 1.”
Perry, 30, will now turn his attention to the IIHF World Championship where he was named captain of Team Canada on Thursday.
The two-time Olympic gold medallist, who says he hasn’t captained a team since his minor hockey days, is the oldest player on the roster. He said he is excited at the prospect of representing his country yet again and specifically getting the chance to play with Edmonton Oilers franchise centre Connor McDavid.
“Oh my God, in person he’s even better to watch,” Perry said. “The goal he scored the other night in the exhibition game — he took two steps and he was by the defenceman and on a breakaway. You can’t teach that kind of stuff. It’s going to be pretty fun and it’s going to see what he can do in this tournament.”
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