Wheat Kings GM/coach Murray has high hopes for talented young squad

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This article was published 24/08/2023 (1140 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Marty Murray is a few days shy of his first full year as the general manager of the Brandon Wheat Kings but it’s already been a tumultuous return to the WHL for the 48-year-old Lyleton product.

After the club’s slow start last season, he fired head coach Don MacGillivray on Nov. 27 — taking on the coaching duties himself — and the Wheat Kings proceeded to finish fifth in the East Division and miss the playoffs.

His minimum requirement in 2023-24 is to ensure the team qualifies for the post-season. Murray, of course, is expecting more out of his youthful but talented roster.

“I think you’ve gotta go into the season with high expectations,” said Murray by phone Thursday. “Let’s be honest, last year Winnipeg was a clear-cut (Eastern Conference) favourite right from from Day 1. I think there’ll certainly be some strong teams in our conference, but there’s not that runaway team that’s kind of stacked. I think it’s up for grabs in our conference.”

He has decided to coach again this season but his long-term preference would be to concentrate on managing the club. He approached former Winnipeg bench boss James Patrick, a teammate when they played for the NHL’s Calgary Flames, about the job after the Ice were sold and moved to Wenatchee in Washington State. Patrick declined, choosing to remain unemployed for perhaps all of 2023-24.

“I talked to Jeep (Patrick) and a couple of other guys that I have a history with and that have good track records,” said Murray. “We’re constantly kind of keeping a (finger on the) pulse of that and, at the same time, we wanted to make sure it was somebody that we were comfortable with. So I think I’ll be coaching this year and then we’ll probably revisit it in the off-season.”

Murray should be comfortable with the wealth of talent Brandon has accumulated recently. First round NHL draft pick Nate Danielson will return to captain the club, with an good overage contingent including forwards Dawson Pasternak and Brett Hyland and shutdown defender Kayden Sadhra-Kang.

“I think that we have a pretty good idea with a veteran group we have coming back and you have goals you’re looking for some other guys that take some steps forward,” said Murray. “Obviously we have some key players back and Danielson, (goaltender Carson) Bjarnason, Hyland and (blue-liner Quinn) Mantei — those guys will be our core group — but the success of the junior hockey team doesn’t revolve around three players. We need some guys to take some steps forward.”

Forward Nolan Flammand, acquired at the trade deadline last season, and a pair of budding stars — centre Roger McQueen and defenceman Charlie Elick — are due for a big bump in production. Both McQueen and Elick were major contributors for Canada at the recent Gretzky Hlinka Cup.

“Charlie had pretty solid year last year as a 16-year-old,” said Murray. “He was named one of the top six D in Canada in his age group this summer and I think that would be a good confidence builder for him. Charlie has to be Charlie. He has to know who he is but we expect him to take some significant strides here and we saw glimpses of it last year for sure.”

Bjarnason, chosen in the second round by the Philadelphia Flyers in June, is probably as important to the Wheat Kings’ fortunes as Danielson, a first-round pick of the Detroit Red Wings.

“He was outstanding I think in the first half of the year and then he had a couple injuries where it was kind of nagging him a little bit and we had to play him a ton,” said Murray, who watched Bjarnason play 47 games in 2022-23. “And for a 17-year-old, that’s a lot.

“I thought he handled it overall but he seemed a little fatigued. We worked hard this summer and hopefully we get the situation where we can balance our goaltending a little better.”

mike.sawatzky@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @sawa14