"He is a top 10 coach, a top 10 GM, and he could have been a top 10 talent evaluator if that's the role he had have wanted to take, except that he loved coaching so much," Tim Murray said. "The GM part of it just came out of coaching. Coaching was his first love. There are a lot of really good GMs. There are a lot of really good coaches and there are a lot of really good scouts.
"But there are very, very few that could combine all three. From a hockey end of it, that's his legacy that he was great at all aspects of the game, not just one aspect of the game."
Among the NHL executives Murray mentored is Minnesota Wild general manager Chuck Fletcher. When Murray was honored by his peers at the general managers meeting in 2015, Fletcher spoke about Murray's ability as a scout.
"To this day, he is the best hockey scout I have ever seen. He has that uncanny ability to go into a rink and just recognize hockey players right away. A tremendous judge of talent," Fletcher said.
When Fletcher worked for Murray in 2003 with the Ducks, along with Tim Murray, they disagreed about a player.
"We had a debate amongst our scouts about a guy named Corey Perry. He wasn't a very good skater," Fletcher said. "Tim, to his credit, liked Corey Perry. He couldn't really get up and down the ice that well. We were playing Detroit that year in the first round and we took a side trip to Plymouth to go watch Corey Perry play.
"We watch London play Plymouth in the (Ontario Hockey League) playoffs, and (Bryan Murray) watches Corey Perry. He watches about three shifts and he says, 'I'm not sure what you guys are worried about. This guy is going to be a star.' He just had that ability to see players right away. He loves talent. He's been a part of some tougher teams, but I've never seen a guy who loves skill like Bryan. He could see it. He could appreciate hockey sense."