It has been a tumultuous season for Ray Emery in Ottawa. (CP Images)
If Bryan Murray is wondering why his Ottawa Senators just can't stop the freefall that sees them spiraling out of Stanley Cup contention, he won't have to look far.
A quick glance in the mirror and he'll have his answer.
Yes, Bryan Murray is to blame. Not Ray Emery, not John Paddock.
Once the odds-on favorite to make the Stanley Cup final for the second straight spring, the Senators have been treading water for most of 2008, watching their fortunes plummet faster than a New York governor on an extended, ahem, business trip.
And perhaps the most glaring cause for the sudden descent has been the amateurish manner in which Murray, the man at the helm of the Good Ship Senator, handled the Emery sideshow.
Common sense tells you that Emery's childish antics have had a negative effect in the Senators' dressing room and will, in all likelihood, make for a short spring in Ottawa.
From road rage incidents and showing up late for practice to temper tantrums and fighting with his own teammates, Emery has been a problem that probably could have been solved had it simply gone away.
Not long ago, the Senators were like a finely-polished machine rumbling towards the top seed in the Eastern Conference.
Now, they seem to be waiting for the scrap yard.
That doesn't happen by accident. Not to teams that begin the season 15-2. Not with teams as talented as this.
Make no mistake, letting the Emery situation manifest itself into a serious issue is the root of the meltdown in Bytown. No one is saying it out loud, of course, but you can bet the whispers are echoing off the boardroom walls.
Sure, their run-of-the-mill goaltending tandem isn't doing the Senators any favors, but the manner in which the Emery powder keg was handled has already cost one coach his job.
Odds are it may end up costing the Senators any hope for a sip from the Stanley Cup this spring.
And that may see Bryan Murray joining Paddock on the unemployment line before long.