A Mucky Situation

In what many saw as a suprising move, John Muckler was fired just a few days after the Senators were defeated. It was later leaked that the firing had something to do with not aquiring Gary Roberts at the trade deadline, but that's not exactly the whole story.

Apparently, Muckler had been instructed by Melnyk (whom he already had a strained relationship with) to aquire Gary Roberts almost regardless of the cost, and in fact, a 1st rounder had been suggested as the offer. Muckler however decided that he could pry Roberts away from Florida for less, and so he haggled with Martin in Florida deep into trade deadline day evening. This part of the story I'm not 100% but I think both parties sort of thought they were close or had a deal in principle. Muckler went home.

The next morning Muckler doesn't show up to his office. They phone him and phone him at home but no response. The Sens send someone over to his house and it turns out he overslept. Meanwhile Florida trades Roberts to the Penguins.

Well Melnyk was furious. He fired Muckler on the spot, and Muckler would have been gone that day, were it not for the pleadings of Bryan Murray and Daniel Alfredsson that the firing would be a massive team distraction heading into the playoffs. And so it wasn't until the playoffs ended that Muckler's firing was announced.