Is Carolina Hurricanes Defenseman Ryan Murphy Ready to be a Full-Time NHL Player?

Ryan Murphy, a 2011 first round pick of the Carolina Hurricanes, has had plenty of ups and downs throughout his first two seasons of professional hockey. Is he finally ready to make the jump to the NHL on a full-time basis?

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The 22-year-old defenseman has 89 NHL games and 50 AHL games to his name, and his inconsistency has been something that has kept him in the American League so much.

When it comes to AHL defensemen, it doesn’t get much better than Ryan Murphy, who has a staggering 41 points in 50 AHL contests and was on the league’s all-star team last season despite just playing 25 games. He didn’t score a goal, but he picked up 17 assists prior to the AHL All-Star Game.

Size is a big factor with a guy like Murphy. He is listed at 5’11”, 185 lbs., which is pretty small for an NHL defenseman, but in the AHL, that is almost prime size for a guy like him. The American league has a lot of small, skilled players who thrive under the circumstances. Murphy has done that in that league, but he is more than just your average AHL standout. He was a top-12 pick and has potential to be a big impact player.

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With all of his skill, speed, and creativity, he comes with downsides. His inconsistent and lackluster defense, his sometimes questionable decision making, and his aforementioned small stature are all things that have stood in Ryan Murphy’s way over the past couple years.

With all of this in mind, Murphy is entering the biggest training camp of his entire career.

The blue line is extremely crowded this year, especially with the bottom three spots. Justin Faulk, James Wisniewski, and Ron Hainsey practically have the 1-3 spots on defense locked down, and John-Michael Liles will have to have an incredibly bad camp in order to not have the fourth spot. So that really just leaves two more spots.

Murphy will compete with all of the following players for just two spots: Noah Hanifin, Trevor Carrick, Haydn Fleury, Danny Biega, Michal Jordan, Rasmus Rissanen, and several other dark horses. This is the most crowded we have seen the Canes blueline in a very long time.

Ryan Murphy will have to show out at training camp and show improvement on the defensive side of his game in order to break into the NHL straight out of training camp.

He also won’t have the whole powerplay quarterback argument on his side this season with the addition of a great man-advantage defenseman like Wisnieski. Faulk and Liles also will have spots on the point for the powerplay, which means that there really isn’t a massive need for an offesnsive defenseman in those scenarios, which means that Murphy will really have to show that he has developed in other areas in order to crack the opening night roster.

That being said, you can never have too many good puck movers on the backend. Murphy has shown in the past that he can be great at making big breakout passes and creating offensive chances with skill, quickness and vision.

There is no doubt that he has the offense, in fact, he shows top-four offensive production already as a 22-year-old in his first 2 season in the NHL.

Ryan Murphy’s HERO chart. Courtesy of ownthepuck.blogspot.com.

The young offensive defenseman is also entering the final year of his three-year rookie deal. He is set to be a restricted free agent next summer, where the Carolina Hurricanes will undoubtedly re-sign him, but if he doesn’t show he can play consistently in the NHL, he will likely get a one or two year, two-way contract instead of a one-way deal that would bridge him to his mid-twenties.

Just a day ago, Alex Galchenyuk, a player who was drafted in the first round in 2012 by the Candiens, got a two-year, one-way bridge deal. Murphy has the chance to get a deal like that if he plays well. If he has another year of up-and-down between the Hurricanes and Checkers, he may not get that.

So, will Ryan Murphy play a full year in the NHL this season?

I think the easy answer is no. He has the ability to be shipped back and forth from the AHL to the NHL and visa versa because he is till on his ELC, so I think the Hurricanes will take advantage of that flexibility, but I do think he will play over 48 games, which is his career high in the NHL entering this season.

This year will be important to see where Ryan Murphy is and how he has developed in his first three seasons. Defensemen aren’t like forwards. They take a while to develop in most cases, and just because he may not be completely ready this season doesn’t mean he never will be or won’t be in a year or two.

Fret not, Ryan Murphy still has potential to turn into the top-four offensive defenseman and powerplay quarterback that most expected when he was drafted in the first round in 2011. It just will be a matter of how fast he can adapt and change his game to the very defensive minded and cautious system that head coach Bill Peters has implemented in Carolina, and the same goes for a lot of other players on the team, like Jeff Skinner and Riley Nash, who are still trying to discover how to perform effectively under Peters.

The future remains bright for Ryan Murphy, and this year will be a big step in his development as he will look to continue blossoming into a quality NHL defenseman.