A conversation with former Kings Director Of Scouting, Al Murray

Al and I first met in 2002, and then, in 2003 I journeyed to Nashville to attend the NHL Amateur Draft (where the Kings picked up Brown, Tambellini, Boyle, Pushkarev, Brady Murray, Esa Pirnes and a gaggle of others...) In Nashville, Al and I had a number of great conversations, and he gave me unlimited access to his thoughts on the players chosen and not chosen. A lot of what he offered, I posted on LGK at the time, and actually had the advance scoop on the Kings re-acquiring Jozef Stumpel (which was met with collective horror by most of the fan faithful.)

Starting this new blog meant that I would reach out to a number of people who have guided me and given me insight over the years. My last contact number for Al was his cell phone that was property of the Los Angeles Kings. As he's since moved on to HockeyCanada, it was obvious I would have to reach out and get new info.

I am delighted to say that moments after making a cursory inquiry, I was able to speak with Al for a good half hour, catching up on his current duties, as well as discussing the state of his alma mater, the 30th place Los Angeles Kings.

Unfortunately, I did not use the conversation as a forum for an "interview," and therefore don't feel comfortable just repeating our conversation verbatim, as he had no idea he was going on record. I will say, however that at the request of my friend Matt (CBGB to some, DramaQueen or DancingBoy to others) I did have to throw in the "Brian Boyle vs. Corey Perry" scenario, and he assured me that the collective decision of the scouts and management of the LA Kings at the time was that the Boyle decision was a unanimous one, and that he was absolutely projected ahead of Perry at the time. "Of course, hindsight..." as his voice trailed off in a sea of innuendo indicates that he thinks Perry has turned into a valuable piece of a Stanley Cup puzzle, and if the Kings crystal ball had been able to foresee the future, things could have been different (the names of Shea Weber and Patrice Bergeron came up in the same sequence.)

The burning question I had, had to do with Patrick O'Sullivan, who I was extremely high on in Nashville, yet was told with no uncertaintly that the red flag was up on this kid and there was no way he'd be drafted by the Kings. Of course, 29 other teams took the same route before Minnesota grabbed him at the tail end of the 2nd round with the 56th pick. I asked Al about O'Sullivan and his answers made complete sense. First off, there was the psychological aspects of how he would and had handled his parental situation. It was well documented that the elder O'Sullivan (John: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid=8854 ) had been abusive, and stalker-like and questions arose as to how Patrick was going to deal with authority figures. For that reason alone, red flags flew everywhere. Secondly, Al pointed out that at the time, the book on Patrick was that he was (a) not a great skater and (b) had a shooter mentality, so you had to be careful within the team concept about developing a line specifically for him.

Personally, I see a time when O'Sullivan will be the team leader in goals, and I think that the chemistry with skilled players like Kopitar, Brown and Frolov has been evident since Crawford took the defensive shackles off of him and allowed him to up the ante. Anyway, after two more years of juniors, and one exceptional year in the American Hockey League, where he was a runaway choice for rookie of the year, even the Wild had to give to get, and were parting ways with the young sniper, choosing to hold on to Roman Voloshenko, drafted in the second round the following year, and after two years with Houston (AHL) has since returned to Russia. A Wild gamble that didn't pay off.

There was a lot more said, as it related directly to current Kings GM Dean Lombardi, Luc Robitaille, the Kings goaltending situation coming into the 06-07 season, and the future of the kids from that '03 draft (Tambellini and Boyle specifically.) Al Murray is a good guy, who has been integrally involved in the sport of hockey for more than half his life. He's currently Head Scout for HockeyCanada, and has a very different set of responsibilities than he did with the Kings. His great pleasure is seeing those gold medals around the necks of the Under-18 teams he helps assemble. Now, Luc Robitaille is getting involved in HockeyCanada as well, and whereas in the past Al and Luc didn't have much chance to intersect (as Luc was a player, and was actually drafted prior to Al's tenure with the Kings,) there should be some intersection in the future.

Who knows... if Lombardi doesn't pan out, and AEG sees fit to move Luc into a GM role, maybe he'd once again turn to Al Murray for scouting wisdom. That's just conjecture on my part, but you rarely meet nicer, more forthright people than Mr. Murray, and it would be nice to know that he's helping to shape the future of the hockey team you've invested decades of your life cheering for, as well as pissing and moaning about.