Quoting: CrazyK04
I don't think you can say Murphy is Chicago's best defenseman. He's not much more than a 3/4 dman AT BEST. Look at a team like Carolina. They don't have anyone comparable to Murphy other than Edmundson. All their Dmen are 2 way or Offensive. They all put up some points. I've never liked Murphy because of what was given up for him. He is no where near what Hjalmarsson is now, let alone an in his prime Hammer. That trade sucked and so does Murphy.
Who do you think is a better defender in Chicago then Murphy? I'll give you a hint, there is nobody which is according to advanced stats. Want to know one of the worst defenders this year in Chicago? Keith and yet you think he's still a first liner and should be paired with another rookie while bagging on Murphy. Want to know when Keith put up his best numbers this year? It was with Murphy.
Carolina is a anomaly as they have one of the deepest defensive teams in the league and they are NOT all offensive D guys, but wait for this, when you have a very deep defensive groups and strong offensive group the D man are going to put up points; shocker!
Murphy is a 2nd liner on most good teams, a first liner on below average teams.
The comedy behind all this is you don't like Murphy, despite all the analytics who prove he is a very solid physical defender and yet you bring in a guy like Dermott who is noticeably worse and wouldn't even crack the lineup on the team you are trying to compare chicago too...Carolina? You are making no logical sense here and your analysis of Murphy is not supported by the beat writers nor advanced stats.
...and by the way, I'd easily take Murphy over Jammer since that trade happened as Jammer is not near the player he used to be, has a shorter and more expensive contract, is 6 years older, and has played 30 less regular season games due to injury.