Ducks GM Murray Comments on Trade and Evaluates Team by Staff Writer / Anaheim Ducks



Ducks Executive Vice President and General Manager Bob Murray held a conference call on Saturday to discuss the trade that involved the acquisition of left wing David Perron and defenseman Adam Clendening from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for left wing Carl Hagelin. In addition, Murray gives insight on the current trade market and an evaluation of the team.



On the reasoning behind the trade

We have some young RFAs [restricted free agents] coming up this next year and the year after, and mostly on defense, as you can tell. It was a definite planned move, financially. The other thing is, it’s two players that are a little bit different. They probably both needed a little bit of a change. Hagelin was starting to work here a little bit with Kesler’s line, but I don’t think the fit was great with us. David [Perron] was struggling to fit in with the Pittsburgh group. David scored a few goals once and a while, so that wouldn’t hurt us at all. Money for the RFAs is a big part of this.



On where Adam Clendening fits in

For right now, he’s going to stay with us because Clayton Stoner irritated his hip flexor again. Instead of bringing up [Joe] Piskula or somebody [from San Diego], we’ll keep him here for now and let our coaches get a look at him and see what he’s like. We’ll see how it goes here. It’s going to become a little bit of a logjam here because Simon Despres is going to play three or four games with San Diego in the next week, and Cam Fowler just got off the ice. Touch wood, we might see our whole defense here in the next couple of weeks.



On why Hagelin wasn’t a fit

I think training camp hurt. Not being able to play during training camp set him behind. I don’t want to put this all on Carl or any new players. This team was not ready to start the year. It put a lot of pressure on the new players, so it looked like it was all them. It was not fair. Whenever you miss training camp, it’s tough to get going. Lately, he started to go. That line has done a good job of shutting down other lines. It just wasn’t a perfect fit here.



On why he believes Perron is a good fit in Anaheim

He should be motivated. He definitely needed a change of scenery from Pittsburgh. We’ve all seen him get very hot at times. We can use someone getting really hot.



On Perron’s skillset

He’s still a young guy. He’s definitely been streaky, but he’s definitely skilled. You’re hoping the chemistry is good with whoever he plays with, and it fits right away. I know he was very excited on the phone last night. It was strange how it all went down. We wanted to do it this morning, but somehow it ended up happening late last night. Hopefully he comes here excited. He’ll get to play with one of our two good centermen. Bruce [Boudreau] will figure that out. He’s been known to light it up, and that can’t hurt us.



On continuing to improve the team

We still have to get better. That’s how I feel about our team. We still have to get better. My group is working at doing that. Things have started to finally move in the league. There are a lot more phone calls lately. We’re going to attempt to get better here.



On the trade market

Every time I turn the page, I hear we’re making a deal with a certain team down in the East Coast. There is more than just him that is probably out there and available right now. Let’s just leave it at that. We’re looking at a whole bunch of things. I hope that answers it. We know he’s there, let’s put it that way. But there are a few others out there, too, that haven’t requested trades.



On his thoughts of the team

The team has developed a concept of how they can win as a team right now. If they stick to their game plan, they can be very competitive most every night. I challenged them last year to be able to win games 1-0. They’re showing they have the willingness to try to do that now, where I’ve questioned that before. You’d like to take one more step so when you get ahead 1-0, or last night when you get a lead, we seem tentative and hesitant when we get ahead. I’d like our team to take that next step. That’s how I may have to help them with that if I can, if it’s possible.

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