For now - and as long as he's able - Bryan Murray will pull the strings for the Ottawa Senators, but the organization has reportedly broached that difficult conversation.

"No succession plans have been announced in Ottawa for the eventual replacement of Bryan Murray but word around is that fired Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero has the inside track here," reports Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun.

Shero was hired by the Penguins in 2006 and built a Stanley Cup champion around inherited superstar Sidney Crosby. He was fired last summer after Pittsburgh was eliminated from postseason contention by a lesser seed for the fifth straight year.

He began his executive career as an assistant in Ottawa.

Murray, Senators GM since 2007, announced in November that he was suffering from a terminal form of colon cancer that had spread to his liver and lungs.