Bryan Murray was my uncle. On December 5, 2019, he would have turned 77. I was fortunate to interview him a couple of times in an official . . .
reporter capacity in Ontario as well as once just as a nephew – 11 days before he passed away on August 12, 2017.
Uncle Bryan’s NHL career as coach and GM is familiar to quite a few in his hometown of Shawville and beyond. The years spanned teams in Washington, Detroit, Florida, Anaheim and Ottawa.
Why another story now? I didn’t want to retread those familiar beats. I started to think about a different point of view; I heard from some, but not a lot of – the players.
The initial mission was to include a few more players, but two did come to mind to try and track down. Kyle Turris got dealt to the Nashville Predators in late 2017. In his thank-you note to Ottawa and the fans, he made a special mention to Bryan.
Chris Kelly played with the Senators. Uncle Bryan made the deal to send him to Boston.
Kelly showed no ill will at the move, he appeared at an Ottawa Hospital Foundation fundraiser in honour of Bryan in 2016. He was still a ‘former Senator’ at the time, before signing that summer with the team again. But the memory still stood out.
What about Daniel Alfredsson, the retired and long-serving Ottawa Senators captain? I briefly talked to him during the aforementioned foundation fundraiser. Alfredsson said for one answer, “I thought Bryan was an outstanding coach, probably the best one I ever had, and I missed him as a coach when he became the GM…”
I found that cool.
KYLE TURRIS
“Bryan’s just an amazing person,” said Turris on the phone in November.
Murray made the trade for Turris to come to the Ottawa Senators in December 2011.
“I’m very thankful for the opportunity he gave me to bringing me to Ottawa, and just getting to know him when he was there.”
“One good story I remember, it was the lockout season (2012-13). It’s a 48 game season. I think I’d gone like 20 consecutive games without scoring a goal. I remember I was all upset and kind of rattled about it. Bryan came down to the dressing room one day. He saw me and kind of looked at me and with his tongue in his cheek. He looked at me and was like – ‘Kyle, are you ever going to score another goal in the rest of your career?”
“We both started laughing at the same time. He just knew. He knew when to make things light. And that it wasn’t end all to be all. And how to get through to each individual and what they needed. I needed a joke to be cracked to lighten things up for me…I just can’t say enough good things about him.”
Murray started in Ottawa as a coach, and although Turris never experienced Murray behind the bench, he couldn’t help but notice the coach.
“I remember meeting with Bryan in his office,” said Turris. “We were talking about systems and drills and whatnot… he grabbed his notepad. He put it down on his desk. He started drawing up drills and systems he used to use. He explained to me how or why he would use them. It would affect the team this way, and how it would bring out in what was looking for in the team. You can tell he was very passionate about it…”
He came to Shawville for Murray’s funeral. It was Turris’ first visit and a brief one.
“Shawville seemed like a very tight-knit community,” he said. “It’s a smaller town, with a neat little strip, if I remember it right, Main Street there. It’s just a tight-knit close community and they came out and showed their support for Bryan.”
The Turris family settled into Ottawa. They put down roots and made it a year-round home with his wife and three kids. The move to Nashville required some time to adapt.
“When the trade first happened … it was tough … once we settled into Nashville, we grew comfortable. It’s a great spot. The wife, kids and I are living there. It’s a fast-growing town with lots to do.”
“I can’t thank [Bryan] enough for giving me the opportunity and trading for me,” said Turris. “Playing in Ottawa, it shaped my career and allowed me to develop into the player I am today.”
CHRIS KELLY
Chris Kelly was part of the memorable Stanley Cup Final run in 2007 by the Ottawa Senators, with Murray as the Head Coach. Kelly would win a Stanley Cup with the Boston Bruins in 2011. The day Kelly went to Boston, Murray had called it one of the toughest days of his career.
“Bryan was truly my first coach in the NHL,” said Kelly by phone. “I think Bryan gave me the opportunity to play and succeed, and he did with always a dry sense of humour.”
Kelly, today, is content with being a player development coach with those Boston Bruins. The days are different, with more managing and less focused on playing. He also has three young girls, so he keeps himself busy.
“Oftentimes, I remember there was one drill. It was such a basic drill that [Bryan] used to drive some of the veteran players crazy. You had to make three passes going down the ice. As a young guy, it gave me anxiety because you had to make these passes. He stands in the middle of the ice and bark[s]. Obviously, you try not to hit him and make the pass. In the first half of the year, I had more anxiety about practice than I did the game. But it was good.”
The anxiety happened because of how much attention there was to detail. Kelly felt Murray was a stickler for details and wanted to execute things properly.
“Maybe I put a little too much pressure on myself, that first little bit,” said Kelly. “…Ultimately, it made me the player I became later in my career because of that…”
The Stanley Cup run in 2007 is a feat yet to be repeated by these modern-day Senators. Murray even cited the playoff run as one of his favourite memories with Ottawa.
“We had a good team,” said Kelly. “I don’t think anyone had has winning the [Eastern Conference] or going to the finals by any means. The players wanted to play for Bryan. He could relate to us, made it fun. When you are playing into June, you are playing 100 plus hockey games in the year.”
“The coach has to be creative and has to find a way to implement fun. I think Bryan made sure we had fun. There were times for us to have fun outside the rink”.
He had not forgotten the social part of the game, as well. It’s not just showing up and competing. You had to get to know your teammates off the ice, and I think that group, I still keep in touch with a lot of them. I think that had a lot to do with Bryan’s coaching style.”
Following the Stanley Cup run excitement, Murray moved on to become the general manager. It was an adjustment for most.
“The next year was relatively hard,” said Kelly. “John Paddock, who was assistant coach, became the head coach.
It was John’s opportunity to be a head coach. We had just gone to the finals and played a long time. John’s pretty demanding off the start, which new head coaches can be, but he had a tired group. We started great, but you can see it was getting out from us. Eventually, Bryan relieved John and went back behind the bench.”
Kelly made the trip to the naming of The Bryan Murray Memorial Gymnasium at Dr. S.E. McDowell School, a place where Murray started his teaching career.
“It’s a close-knit community,” Kelly said. “It’s pretty neat to go there. To see the type of impact Bryan had on the community. It’s not surprising that the success Bryan had, he never forgot where he came from, that’s the type of person he was. To be honest, it wasn’t surprising that he had done so much for the community that he grew up in and continue to go back there…”
by Scott Campbell
