Blues Extend Andy Murray's Contract Through 2010-11

by Brad Lee on Sep 15, 2009 2:27 PM CDT

Who's ready to do some laps?!!

According to the Twitter of Voice of the Blues Chris Kerber, the Blues have decided to pick up head coach Andy Murray's contract option for 2010-11. Accepting this as fact, it begs a couple bullet points. UPDATE: Jeremy Rutherford confirms on his Morning Skate Blog.

- This is a non-committal decision. It was a no-brainer for the team to use the option. It's probably an affordable amount from management's point of view considering he was on the used-coach scrap heap and not a Jack Adams finalist when they negotiated the deal. So it saves the front office money going into an important year.

- By just picking up the option and not giving Murray a raise and another year or two on his deal, it means the team still wants to see what Murray can do with this group in the playoffs. Another first-round and out and Murray could be on the hot seat next season.

- He probably deserves a raise. That team treaded water with Cam Paddock and B.J. Crombeen scoring big goals. Andy Murray knows and practices the dark arts and will make a John Davidson voodoo doll if you don't give him a raise.

- Or after a big season, the team could still renegotiate, placating the raspy-throated coach.

- The Blues ate money on the contracts of two fired head coaches before Willem Dafoe's brother. This decision keeps the obligation to Murray at a reasonable length. Team implodes this year, they only have next year to pay him to not coach. As rosy as the future is for the team, cash flow has been an issue with this ownership group and paying dead money to dead coaching careers doesn't improve anything.

Personally, the job Murray pulled off this spring was remarkable. The young core players on this team responded to him. The front office could have committed to Murray long term and they didn't, keeping all sorts of possibilities open down the road. For a team that has tried locking players up earlier in their careers (Brad Boyes, David Backes), it's odd it seems that they're rolling the dice with Murray.

So commenters, do you like the Andy Murray or do you dislike the Andy Murray? Let us know what you think about the coach and his extension in the comments.

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Comments

wow

never get into a fight with andy murray in a zebra enclosure, you’ll never see him coming.

A strong anvil fears no hammer

by Childhood Trauma on Sep 15, 2009 2:43 PM CDT reply actions

I love

It gets it all out of the way for a while. At least Murray won't be imploding due to contract issues this season.

Murray is no fool – he’s not going to expect any negotiations on further extensions etc until Management can see how the team does this year.

He’s done a really good job so far and let’s hope the players continue to buy into his program.

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by drfrankentweed on Sep 15, 2009 3:23 PM CDT reply actions

There are a lot of reasons to question Andy Murray ~~- David Perron’s ice time, Eric Brewer’s ice time, that unnatural urge to see everyone’s favorite wall-crawler squashed like a bug -~~ but there’s no denying the way the team coalesced and played out of their collective minds in the second half of last season.

I think Murray has shown himself to be a very good regular-season coach, and so the extension makes sense. At the same time, his postseason record (10-18 overall, 1-4 in postseason series) makes one leery of locking him up long-term.

by BleedBlue42 on Sep 15, 2009 3:48 PM CDT reply actions

Well, that's interesting.

I didn’t insert any strikethrough tags; does the double-hyphen make that happen automatically? Silly web formatting…

by BleedBlue42 on Sep 15, 2009 3:49 PM CDT up reply actions

yep

i accidentally discovered that “feature” via (thankfully) a preview. I’d also add to the anti Murray situation the following : He has never had a team compete hard for a full season.

Half seasons? all the time.

82 games. not once.

The Blues are raising expectations, on purpose I have to assume, and it will be interesting to see what happens to Andy when the team hits a prolonged rough patch. I think it would be insane to think this team will NOT have a rough patch. it is virtually identical to a team that had a 40 game rough patch to start last season.

I’m not going to start out being ~~-pessimistic~~- realistic, I’ll be wooed by the swarthy Davidson hype. But I reserve the right to wonder what happens during the tribulations ahead. And I’ll be first off the AM bandwagon.

A strong anvil fears no hammer

by Childhood Trauma on Sep 15, 2009 4:03 PM CDT up reply actions

Class act

that being said results must come before I am sold on him
I love his mantra, and the night-by-night basis which he builds his philosophy, but saying theres no such thing as momentum is something thats said to a losing team, he needs to come up with some new fire

"I quit because I didn't feel like the Detroit Lions had a chance to win. It just killed my enjoyment of the game."
-Barry Sanders
(Soon to be the Detroit RedWings - Henrik Zetterberg '11)

by DasBlues74 on Sep 15, 2009 4:04 PM CDT reply actions

Fuck it.

Disney says I must bow to the Green Goblin’s wishes.

Your wish is my command, you fucks.

One day, David Backes and Albert Pujols will combine forces to become the most awesome piece of violent force known to man.

by Donut King on Sep 15, 2009 11:15 PM CDT reply actions

This was sarcasm.

Hopefully most of you know that I love this dude as the coach.

One day, David Backes and Albert Pujols will combine forces to become the most awesome piece of violent force known to man.

by Donut King on Sep 16, 2009 9:32 AM CDT up reply actions

Gotta at least reward him for that amazing comeback playoff run

I can’t remember the last coach the blues didn’t quit on.

Keep him around until the young guys start tuning him out.

by hisTALLness on Sep 16, 2009 12:13 AM CDT reply actions

Not sure why this is...

but I have this feeling that when this team gets REALLY good, that Murray will not be the coach…this has little to do with his history, but that most teams that become elite teams reach a crisis stage before they cross that threshold and have deep playoff runs year after year…sometimes, it involves changing coaches…I should do some research on this, but I have been watching this game for a long time, and my recollection is there is some pain involved before you hit paydirt. I think San Jose is going through this now.

by tbell61 on Sep 16, 2009 10:35 AM CDT reply actions