Ice Breakers: Troy Terry’s Olympic candidacy, Bob Murray and the Penguins

We touched on a few important topics during today’s edition of Ice Breakers on the Daily Faceoff Show. We dove into Anaheim’s Troy Terry, who has been off to a red hot start, as well as the latest on the investigation into former Ducks GM’s Bob Murray.

Lastly, I dove into the latest on the sale of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Few players have been hotter to start the season than that of Anaheim Ducks forward Troy Terry.

The 24-year-old fifth-round draft has scored at an incredible pace to start the year finding the back of the net 11 times and adding 21 points — both career highs. He is the leading American-born scorer in the NHL.

And now, his name is being talked about in Team USA circles as a potential candidate for the Olympic squad.

He’s certainly on the radar, but I can tell you with absolute fact that Troy Terry was not on the team USA long list that was submitted back in October, and it’s probably not a shock. What he’s done now as of November 18th… he’s played himself onto the radar and has asked the appropriate question of ‘does he belong in the conversation?’

The interesting part is he can be added onto the long list. I think there was some miscommunication, or misconception out there about how these long lists work. There’s no limit. Some people reported it as 55 players, but I believe it can be a lot longer than that. Some teams apparently have closer to 100 guys that are on the radar. It just involves getting on the list so you can be properly drug tested in the time leading up to the Olympics.

Troy Terry can be added and I think the big question from Team USA circles is can he sustain this? Can he keep it going? Because if three weeks turns into six-months and you’re talking late December, Christmas time, and Troy Terry is still right there in terms of being one of the elite producers in the league, then he’s going to be a tough guy to say no to.

Also: Not to say he wasn’t already on the long list, but another name who is popping up and turning heads? Chris Kreider. He’s up to 12 goals and 15 points in 16 games this year and is filling the net at an impressive pace.

Onto other news, where the investigation into former Anaheim Ducks GM Bob Murray is still ongoing:

I’m told there was a hotline complaint that came in the week Bob Murray was put on leave and ultimately resigned from his post to enter alcohol abuse-related counselling. While he’s departed from the organization and is beginning to get the help that he requested, I previously reported he has also begun to try to make amends as part of that process as well as call people in and around the organization to apologize for his actions and is taking responsibility and accountability for that.

There were additional complaints the organization, as well as the outside firm Sheppard Mullin, the Los Angeles law firm, didn’t know about. There’s still investigating those and are not going to turn a blind eye, even though Bob Murray has departed the organization, from investigating those claims and taking it as far as need be.

But in this case, unlike the Blackhawks, my understanding at this point is the Ducks nor the NHL don’t have any belief that this report will ultimately be made public.

And lastly, there was a bombshell report that the Pittsburgh Penguins were in advanced talks to sell the organization to the Fenway Group. The biggest question that remains is: what does the team sell for?

Here’s the latest on those talks:

It’s always tricky when you’re dealing with these numbers to figure out. There’s lots of complicated parts that go into actually determining the valuation. The number begins with an 8, as in $800-plus million is the valuation that this sale is working on. It’s always an important test for the valuations we see throughout the year whether it’s on Forbes or SportiCo that go through these valuations. The Pittsburgh Penguins landing in the 8’s.

The Forbes valuation for this year, I believe, was $849-million, so what does that mean for Ron Burkle who is exiting? I’m told he’s looking at a 6x multiple on his investment he put in. I believe it’s somewhere in the $70-million range, so he’s leaving apparently with $400-plus million. Quite a payday for Ron Burkle as he exits and Mario Lemieux, of course, a minority owner will remain on board with the team — that is the expectation as the Fenway Sports Group dives in.

We could see an approval vote for this sale, provided that everything gets done, in closing with the NHL board of governors meeting set to take place in Palm Beach, Beach Florida on December 9th and 10th.