Connor Murphy

[WJSN]

Connor Murphy is a healthy scratch again for tonight's game. He was initially paired with Keith in the training camp and we all thought he was going to be a top-4 RD filling in for the guy he was traded for. Unfortunately that hasn't been the case.

I don't think Murphy has been bad. But he hasn't done much to impress either. He's been physical. That's about it. Q doesn't seem to be a big fan of his game either.

Some facts -
-He's currently 6th in minutes among Hawks D
-He has zero points
-He doesn't play PP or PK
-He currently has the worst possession numbers among Hawks D, raw corsi at 41.9%, relative corsi at -9.1

To be fair, it's a small sample size and things could change as the season progresses. I certainly hope so. Bowman traded Nik Hjalmarsson for this guy presumably because he wanted more cost certainty going forward. Keep in mind, Murphy makes $3.85 million for the next 5 seasons. Do we have the new Trevor Daley?

Click to read more...

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

I have not been impressed at all with him to be honest

Looking like a clunker on Stan's part and also he struggled with Yotes after getting deal and they were downright happy to dump him

 

[Teemu]

Anyone expecting a #4 *out of the gate* had their expectations too high. He played like a 6/7 last year, and there was no particularly strong reason to expect a sudden change. The hope is that at 24, he's still young enough to correct his flaws.

I mean, shit, he'd better with that contract

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

When you trade away a top pairing defender like Hammer you better damn well be getting at least a 2nd pairing defender back

And after all these years in NHL its pretty dismal if at this point Murphy is no better then a #6/7 and at that price tag

Also Dauphin didn't look all that good either in camp/preseason

Stanley Bowman putting his mark on team again with disastrous move.

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

He's not healthy.

 

[Blackhawkswincup]

Well if you say so Dr

Seriously though an awful trade when it happened. The fact Stanley settled for what was essentially Yotes cap dump and an AHL/NHL tweener for a guy like Hammer cant be defended

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

Lol a prospect is a tweener now?

 

[WJSN]

My expectation wasn't all that high. I mean we all knew we were getting a lesser dman. However there were some attractive things about him - his age, experience playing top-4 mins, natural RHD, signed long-term at a reasonable cap hit, etc.

Doesn't look good so far....

 

[crazyhawk]

No need to be hasty with doom & gloom re the Hammer Murphy deal.

Give the guy some time to a) heal from some potential nagging injury and b) to acclimatize to the Hawk system and Q's D-mented mentality!
The signing was a smart one albeit a gamble as most trades are.
Hammer isn't doing particularly well in Arizona so far so again ... just keep swimming.

 

[BobbyJet]

When you trade away a top pairing defender like Hammer you better damn well be getting at least a 2nd pairing defender back

And after all these years in NHL its pretty dismal if at this point Murphy is no better then a #6/7 and at that price tag

Also Dauphin didn't look all that good either in camp/preseason. YES, he did.

Stanley Bowman putting his mark on team again with disastrous move.

As usual, you jump the gun and I doubt you ever change your mind. TBH, I expected CM to better than what we've seen but he has played a measly 3 games with a new team, and a new system.

 

[DisgruntledHawkFan]

And Murphy is more than a bottom pairing guy. BWC will come around, like he did with AA.

 

[ColdSteel2]

Dauphin is a sure thing to be a trusted bottom 6 player for as long as we can afford him. He was drafted high to be that and has done nothing but impress since then. Nearly .5 GPG player in the AHL. Nothing says he doesn't have a chance to be a good 3C.

Murphy will take all season to bring up to snuff, that much is clear. He's not ready made so let's see what the coaches and players can teach him. We need to reprogram him. If we can win while we do that, I don't see any reason to complain.

 

[BobbyJet]

Dauphin is a sure thing to be a trusted bottom 6 player for as long as we can afford him. He was drafted high to be that and has done nothing but impress since then. Nearly .5 GPG player in the AHL. Nothing says he doesn't have a chance to be a good 3C.

Murphy will take all season to bring up to snuff, that much is clear. He's not ready made so let's see what the coaches and players can teach him. We need to reprogram him. If we can win while we do that, I don't see any reason to complain.

Hmmm. Only to an extent. Murphy will never be a puck-moving, stick check first type of Dman. He needs to play the physical game to remain in the NHL . If Q doesn't like that, and wants to take away that element, Hawks may as well trade him now.

 

[piteus]

Footage of Duncan Keith paired with Connor Murphy at practice.

 

[ColdSteel2]

Hmmm. Only to an extent. Murphy will never be a puck-moving, stick check first type of Dman. He needs to play the physical game to remain in the NHL . If Q doesn't like that, and wants to take away that element, Hawks may as well trade him now.

I don't know what he was doing in Phoenix but he looks lost.

 

[JaegerDice]

I don't know what he was doing in Phoenix but he looks lost.

He wasn't doing much in Phoenix either.

 

[BK]

I don’t know what you guys are expecting from him. He is a stay at home D that is a solid skater and physical. He makes a solid first pass and does not take chances often. In AZ, he was miss used and their team was terrible. He has been bland so far but if anyone thought he would be a fancy are mistaken. He is still young and has all the tools to be a good 3 but right now he is a 4-5. Q sitting him (unless he is hurt) is just further proof that Q is not good a lineups and roster management.

 

[BobbyJet]

It doesn't make much sense to sit CM at this stage unless he is indeed injured.

 

[JaegerDice]

You can be good without being fancy.

That is, you can have a positive impact on the game (minimizing shots and chances against, helping generate shots and chances for) without leaping off the screen.

He's been mediocre to my eye and the numbers aren't hot either. That said, he really hasn't made that many glaring, jump-off-the-screen mistakes either. Just a lot of 'not quite there' or 'could have made a better play' accumulating over a game to the point he's basically having a net negative impact. Death by a thousand cuts.

I think he was brought in as a project with the assumption that playing on a better team would help him, but I think fans and management gravely overestimated what impact a new setting was going to have. Like the Blackhawks have magical 'good team mojo' that instantly turn projects into studs.

He could still get better, but right now I simply think they looked at the tools instead of how all the tools have fit together over his career (inconsistently at best, middling at worst).




Of course, it's also possible that Q was just so pissed off over the Hammer trade, that literally nothing Murphy ever does will make Q warm to him. He may have doghouse for life status, simply because every time Q looks at him, he's reminded of his precious boy.

...that was a joke, by the way.

 

[Esq]

It is too early to pass judgment, but I don’t have a warm and fuzzy feeling about any of this.

Thankfully, Rutta looks like a diamond.

 

[clydesdale line]

Not everyone learns the Hawks system on the fly. It's a mother f***er and it takes time to learn, especially for a d-man. Players in the past have said that it took more than a month (or 20+ games) to finally get comfortable with it. He'll be fine.

 

[Blackhawks]

Not everyone learns the Hawks system on the fly. It's a mother ****er and it takes time to learn, especially for a d-man. Players in the past have said that it took more than a month (or 20+ games) to finally get comfortable with it. He'll be fine.

Yes lets blame it on the system, the kid sucks and is signed long term, Stan got owned yet again, no surprise here. The team that he has built or more like destroyed isnt winning anything this year just as expected before the season started, it was nice to see them dominate for a couple games but it was nothing more than the start of the season jump mixed with the other team being rusty...

 

[Bubba88]

I don't think Murphy played bad. It's just that Franson deserves some games too and Ruuta is better than both.

 

[Hawkaholic]

Murphy hasn't even been bad, there are just too many options, and he is the odd man out because of it.

If they want to get Franson into some games, it's either take Seabs or Rutta out. Seabs isn't coming out, and Rutta has looked far better than any of us anticipated. If Rutta didn't impress as much as he has, Murphy wouldn't be getting scratched at all.

 

[BK]

Yes lets blame it on the system, the kid sucks and is signed long term, Stan got owned yet again, no surprise here. The team that he has built or more like destroyed isnt winning anything this year just as expected before the season started, it was nice to see them dominate for a couple games but it was nothing more than the start of the season jump mixed with the other team being rusty...

Do you even know the system? I wouldn't expect you to and looks like my expectations are correct. The Hawks coverage schemes are not the norm and are more complex due to how the team fronts certain situations and backs other situations. It takes a D man at least 20 games to start completely understand the system because of the differences from the normal defensive schemes, look at Oduya.

Honestly, you should try and actually watch the team and players before spouting off here because you might actually get more than 1 or 2 posts right. Need an example? You trying to claim Crawford looks more athletic than last season pre-injury. Crawford before his injury last season was the best he had ever looked.

Anyone else think it is funny that Blackhawks doesn't talk in GDT or in general when the Hawks are winning?