Here’s a shocker: Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray is angry about the Olympics, and how the Ducks season has fallen apart after returning from the break.
“We went in playing well and came out dead,” Murray said, referring to the team’s 14-6 surge before the Olympic break and an 0-4-1 nosedive in the Ducks’ first five games after the break. “We were petrified of this (happening) because we had so many (Olympians). But there’s no explanation for it. Disappointment is the best word I can use.”
“Olympic hangover?” he said, repeating the words that clearly were repugnant to him. “Excuses are for losers. You knew the level of play was going to be higher coming out of the Olympics than it was going in. That’s just the way our game is. You have to want it bad. Bottom line, we don’t have enough guys wanting it bad.”
Yet the players and the coaches are ultimately responsible for their own play, and excuses have to be left in the locker room. Murray is exactly right: the players just haven’t wanted it bad enough. It’s not like the rest of the league is suffering from a post-Olympics letdown.
To make matters worse, Ryan Getzlaf and Teemu Selanne were injured last night, and both are going to be re-evaluated today. Both could just be day-to-day, but it’s certainly just insult to, uhh, injury at this point. And the Ducks actually won last night.