Is Connor Murphy a Possible Trade Option for the Toronto Maple Leafs?

The Toronto Maple Leafs need help on the blueline, but with so much money invested in so few players they need to be creative with who they add on the backend

The Toronto Maple Leafs will be in the market for a new defenseman this coming off-season. More specifically an RHD that can play in the top-four with a preference of someone that can compliment Morgan Rielly.

It is often said that what the Toronto Maple Leafs need is a big, physical RHD shutdown defencemen. If Kyle Dubas has a preference of smaller puck-moving defensemen, it is because moving the puck is the main thing that leads to playing less defense.   The rarity of the former, however, doesn’t mean they don’t exist.

The “stay at home” defenseman has been phased out of the game in recent years because most of them – the Polaks, the Hainseys – are not effective.   Connor Murphy, like Chris Tanev or Nic Hjallmarsson is an exception.

Murphy  is a player the Leafs should target, especially considering his contract.

What Murphy can bring to the Toronto Maple Leafs

2019-2020 stats – 58 GP – 5G – 14 A – 19 PTS – CF% 50.21% (natrualstattrick.com).

The 6’4 212lb d-man is a physical presence on the ice. When he is on you can’t miss him, and is someone you don’t want to get tangled with as he is not afraid to drop the gloves.

Murphy has developed into a solid shutdown defenceman for the Blackhawks and is underrated for what he does on the team. He is never going to light up the scoreboard but what he does bring are the little things in the game that don’t come up on the scoresheet.  You can see from the chart below that defensively, he is among the league’s elite, and that he has provided 1.1 WAR in each of the last two seasons.

In a league where the MVP is lucky to crack 5 WAR, that is a very good number.

Ideally, Murphy would play with Rielly and would shore up the backend and let Rielly do what he does best and that is joining the rush.

Acquisition Cost

Connor Murphy still has two more years on a very team-friendly deal at $3,850,000. Dubas prefers players that have term on their contracts, so Murphy could be right for the team.

The Chicago Blackhawks are in a rebuilding phase but with the emergence of some of their younger players and with Toews and Kane still performing at high levels, they could be contending again very shortly.

Murphy shouldn’t cost too much to acquire so maybe sending Andersen to fill the void of Crawford leaving may do the trick to convince the Blackhawks to swing a deal