Why Terry Murray?

Only the final details stand between the Kings officially hiring Terry Murray. An announcement could come as soon as tomorrow. So that raises the question, “why Terry Murray?” He fits two of Dean Lombardi’s two qualifications. He’s a defenseman, and Lombardi understands the importance of developing the Kings’ young defensemen, particularly next season, when there could be a handful of kids on the blue line. He’s also familiar to Lombardi, since they were employed by the Flyers at the same time. As a bonus, Murray has won. He showed a sustained ability to get his team to the playoffs and took one, the 1996-97 Flyers, to the Stanley Cup Finals.

On the other hand… there seems to be some surprise that the Kings would hire a coach who has been fired three times, and an older coach. Murray turns 58 on Sunday. That certainly doesn’t disqualify him from mentoring younger players, but the thought seemed to be that Lombardi would look toward a coach who had recent experience coaching young players, maybe even a coach without NHL head coaching experience.

One popular name that came up in a few e-mails and comments was Dale Hunter. The Kings did not interview him.

So what does everyone think of Terry Murray?

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