Silver Nuggets: Bryan Murray's trade history

Given all the buzz about the trade market, I thought it would be worthwhile to take a look at the transaction history of current Senators GM, Bryan Murray. I went through the Pro Sports Transactions database to search through all trades made during Bryan Murray's tenure, beginning with when he took over after John Muckler's firing. We can quickly get into hindsight mode very quickly when we begin to discuss trades, so I mainly wanted to use this post as a resource for all of you, and note some trends near the end.

Without further ado:

In total, there have been 44 transactions total since June 23rd, 2007. A significant proportion of the trades have been with Western Conference teams (31), leaving 13 trades with Eastern Conference teams. Here's a quick graph showing the trade breakdown by month:

[Note: I didn't include the players drafted with the picks acquired through trade because in most cases -- almost all except the rare occasion on draft day like the Matt Puempel situation -- teams do not know which players will be available at that time, and it's more 'luck' that the player ended up being there. Thus, for the purpose of trade analysis, I've tried to eliminate hindsight by not including these names, but if you are curious, click through to the ProSportsTransactions link above the table and the names are included]

Now, don't read too much into this as the first January trade for Murray in the last 8 years happened last week, but it serves as a reminder when teams around the league are very active. We see the pre-trade deadline months of Febuary and March -- full of teams trying to acquire players to bolster their playoff run (Ottawa, 2007-2010) or trade away their veterans to give players from the minors opportunities (Ottawa, 2011). We then see the draft day trades in June, where Murray has spun 12 trades and a bulk of his recent deals.

What's most interesting to me -- and what will likely lead to the most discussion -- is the fact that many of Murray's trades have been of the minor nature, outside of the two giant deals (Spezza, Ryan). Unfortunately, I do not have league wide numbers to compare Murray to his colleagues, but with issues that have been plaguing this team for many years (shots against), it's astounding how much emphasis has been on giving drafted players opportunities.

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Sens Links

• Three Sens games since our last check in! In reverse chronological order, let's start with the late night (or morning in some time zones) win against the San Jose Sharks. [Silver Seven, SensChirp,
• Next, Saturday's comeback victory against the LA Kings. [Silver Seven, SensChirp, Ottawa Citizen]
• Unfortunately, our heroes were unable to sweep California like last year, as they lost Game 1 of this trip to the Anaheim Ducks. [Silver Seven, Ottawa Citizen]
• Our friends in Binghamton also played three games, finishing with a 2-1-0 record. [Silver Seven - vs. Syracuse, vs. Rochester, vs. Rochester pt. 2]
• Missed what happened last week? Catch up with Five Thoughts or get a glimpse of player performance w/ Ups and Downs! [Silver Seven, Ups and Downs]
• Since we were talking about trades in our introductory blurb, I'd be remiss if I didn't point out that the Senators made one! Jeff has coverage on the swap of two minor league defensemen. [Silver Seven]
• What about the NHL roster? Well, Nichols and Chirp have pieces on the Lightning's interest in Cody Ceci. They're a frequent trade partner... [6th Sens, SensChirp]
• Supposedly teams are still interested in Jared Cowen.. [SensChirp]
• Now let's shift to contract negotiations. Andrew takes you through his thoughts and predictions on what looks to be a big offseason for the organization, especially at the depth level. [WTYKY]
• Mike Hoffman is the Senators player that most fans are concerned about. He's saying the right things, though (and why wouldn't he?) [The Score, Ottawa Citizen]
• One of the reasons why Hoffman is so important is because the Senators offense has been floundering this season. [Ottawa Citizen]
• Ross started a cool new series, this time focusing on members of the mainstream media that cover the Ottawa Senators. Check out part 1 of his series, with Ottawa Sun reporter Bruce Garrioch, and part 2 of his series, with Ottawa Citizen reporter Ken Warren. [Silver Seven - Garrioch, Warren]
• We all love our prospect coverage! Nichols has a piece on the Sens prospects whose stocks are trending up after strong post-draft seasons. [6th Sens]
• Some more positive news? Here's a look back at the community impact Matt Carkner had during his time in Ottawa, courtesy of fantastic reporting by our very own Callum. [Silver Seven]
• Joe and Travis have midterm report cards, and Trevor has an over/under prediction for the rest of the season. [Bonk's Mullet, SenShot, Silver Seven]
• James has a great piece, featuring a ton of colours, that offers a breakdown of how this iteration of the Senators came to be. Lots of draft picks, and a couple key trades make up the bulk of Bryan Murray's team. [WTYKY]
• It won't be a weekly update without a piece on the Senators defense. Here's Nichols on the play of the Senators defense core as a whole. [6th Sens]
• He scored last night, so it's only fitting I linked a column dedicated to him. The gritty game of Max McCormick. [Ottawa Citizen]
• Peter's weekly news and notes column covers the Mullen for Allen trade, in addition to the BSens weekend games. [Eye on the Sens]
• Trevor gives out his NHL awards at the halfway point of the season. A notable Senator makes the list. [Silver Seven]
• A SensChirp reader writes a compelling case for Erik Karlsson to win both the Hart and the Norris. [SensChirp]
• We gave out community awards for 2015. Congrats again to The Tif! [Silver Seven]
• Your end-of-Nuggets audio, courtesy of the lovely Chet Sellers and Luke Peristy. [Silver Seven]

Other Links

• A fantastic piece from Clare Austin on goaltender evaluation and save percentage. [InGoal Mag]
• Ottawa may start to see these discussions soon, so I think it's worth posting: updates on Calgary's arena situation. [The Globe & Mail, National Post]
• Elliotte Friedman's weekly 30 Thoughts. [Sportsnet]
• Given all the talk about Ovechkin's numbers and where they stand league wide, here's an article on Hockey Reference's adjusted scoring numbers. [TCG Hockey]
• Speaking of Ovechkin, a lot of his moments come on the powerplay, but special teams have generally been places that are hard to analyze. Arik hopes to change that. [Hockey-Graphs]
• After news came out that Alex Galchenyuk's girlfriend was arrested due to domestic abuse, the narrative of the discussion went one of two ways. Phyllis Kessel, Achariya, and Robyn Flynn wrote about these narratives, and why it's important to pay attention. [Pension Plan Puppets, Habs Eyes on the Prize]
• John Scott is still an all-star, but the NHL handled the situation very poorly. [SB Nation]
• Unfortunately, the popular hockey statistics site War On Ice is shutting down. David Johnson, owner of Hockey Analysis, writes about the topic and offers some thoughtful suggestions. [War on Ice, Hockey Analysis]
• A great retrospective from Alison L that describes Ryan Johansen's tumultuous time in Columbus. [Buckeye State Hockey]/