FEATURE: Murphy Emerging as Blue Line Force for Blackhawks

Connor Murphy is quietly asserting himself as force on the Blackhawks blue line.
A consistent name over the last three seasons, the 27-year-old defenseman played in 78 games during his first year but was largely held to a third-pair role with just 16:22 of average ice time. He missed 30 games in 2018-19 with a back injury delaying his start to the season and continued to grow into a top-four role over the back half. He was bit again by the injury bug early in 2019-20, but rebounded once again for his most impactful year to date with the Blackhawks.

With a larger role at both 5-on-5 and on the penalty kill in 2019-20, Murphy logged nearly two full minutes more of ice time per game during the regular season -- 21:25 compared to 19:29 a year ago -- a number that went even higher in the postseason, finishing behind only Duncan Keith and the often double-shifted Patrick Kane in playoff ice time. He's always been known as a physical, shot-blocking, shutdown defenseman, but set a career high offensively, too, with 19 points (5G, 14A) in just 58 regular season games and another four (4A) in nine playoff tilts.
"I felt like I was able to take a step forward this season," Murphy said. "I worked a lot with our coaches (on) the way we wanted to play, on getting improved puck play. That's been something that's still a work in progress for me to try to contribute a little bit more that way. Then trying to bring strong defending anytime you're put out, especially whether it's against some of their top lines or whatever it may be for each game."

Murphy opened his season largely on the top pairing with Keith, a familiar place he would end the season in Edmonton over the final few games of the First Round. In between, blueliner was often trusted as the steady defensive force alongside an offensive-minded D partner.
When Murphy missed three weeks into early November due to injury, Adam Boqvist made the jump to full-time NHLer and soon slotted in alongside Keith as the veteran helped guide the rookie's season. Murphy returned on a third-pairing role with Olli Maatta and soon rose back to a regular in the second pairing and alongside Erik Gustafsson and then Lucas Carlsson after the trade deadline. For most of the season, though, he remained with Duncan Keith on the top penalty kill unit and it was the reuniting of that partnership late in the playoffs at even strength that proved to be one of Chicago's best at an all-around game in the bubble.
"I was definitely grateful to get a good amount of minutes and work on some things and continue to grow and be able to take a step," he continued on his year as a whole. "It's unfortunate that we weren't able to play a full season and kind of build those last chunk of games as well, but I think we were lucky to be able to come into this playoff to continue to grow as well, individually and as a team."
Like many on the Blackhawks roster, the playoff experience was a growth opportunity on its own -- the first taste of long-awaited playoff hockey for Murphy in his seventh NHL Season.
"It's such a different feeling when you get to play against a team in a series and know that you can kind of figure out how to play against certain guys or you have your matchups and be able to go through a whole series," he said. "That competitiveness that it brings out in everyone and kind of the bonding it brings, it brings that unity a little more as a team. When you're in big games, you know they mean a lot more every shift whenever you're out on the ice. That part was a lot of fun.
"You always dream about the fans and about the big moments where the building's going crazy and you feel like you have an extra guy on the ice with you because of the level of excitement in the building. Definitely hope in the near future at the United Center we can get that back going."

Coming off a pair of injury-shortened campaigns, but with momentum strongly in his favor heading into the offseason, Murphy seems ready to assert himself as potentially a top-pair force on the blue line whenever next season does get underway. He also wants to take a similar emerging role as a leader inside the locker room heading into what will be his eighth year and fourth with Chicago.
"I definitely would like to be more vocal," he said. "I think we do have a good group of leaders on the team that have been here for awhile, that make everyone feel a part of it. That's been something that they've harped is wanting each guy to be able to take a piece of that leadership role and everyone has something to offer."