Follow @james_tanner123 The Arizona Coyotes have signed defenseman Connor Murphy to a six year extension with a cap hit of $3.85 million, according to Craig Morgan.
Update: The Coyotes have also signed Michael Stone to a one year, four million extension. More on that tomorrow.
Source: AAV for Connor Murphy's 6-year deal with the Coyotes is $3.85 million.
— Craig Morgan (@craigsmorgan) July 28, 2016
Murphy was a first-round pick (20th) in 2011. While Murphy has shown flashes of the talent expected from a high pick, he hasn't yet shown to be more than a below average, sixth or seventh dman in the NHL.
His shot-suppression game is non-existent, players don't improve when they play with him, he doesn't have strong possession stats, and has never cracked 20 points.
I would not have been surprised if he was traded somewhere for a fresh start, and, based on his stats and apparent lack of development, I was all but ready to write him off, despite formerly harboring large expectations for him.
So why did they seemingly overpay for a bottom-pairing dman and give him a bizarre amount of term?
I mean, look at this:
Thanks to Ownthepuck.blogspot.ca for the chart.
WHY I LIKE THE DEAL:
Already, before I started writing this, I saw some people ripping it on Twitter, which was also my initial reaction - the Connor Murphy of last year isn't playing top-four minutes and getting a team into the Playoffs.
So what's to like? Lot's of stuff actually.
- Connor Murphy is 6'4 210 and he can skate and move the puck, and he shoots right.
The NHL has a discernible lack of right-handed shooting defenseman and seems to be putting more emphasis on having left-right pairings, so right shooting dmen are always in demand.
Murphy's size and skating combo is also very rare, so given that his contract is cheaper than an established top-four dman now gets paid, even if he fails to become one (i.e a top four) he should always be movable, should the team want to bail. (And assuming the contract has no no-trade protections).
Last year Oliver Ekman-Larsson was Murphy's most common partner, however a second year defenseman struggling to establish himself in the NHL has no business playing top-pair minutes and Murphy was badly exposed. Not to mention, the team was terrible.
Since he'll be on a better team, possibly playing in a more appropriate spot in the lineup, there is reason to think he'll be better.
For $3.85/a, he doesn't have to get all that much better. If he improves to the point were he can at least make some impact in limiting shots and increase his scoring and possession to the point where he is either a better-than-average third pairing or an OK second pairing player, he'll be good value at that cap hit.
And, as is entirely possible given the terrible situation he's been asked to start his career in, if he actually turns out to reach the ceiling his size and skating ability give him, then he's going to be an absolute steal.
I like the deal, I like Murphy, and I support the idea of teams betting on their own guys and setting up the chance for a contract that has good value in relation to the cap-hit, which is arguably the most important thing a GM an do at this time.
No deal is risk free, but I don't think any contract is bad if you are making a reasonable bet to get a player's prime years at a discount, rather than paying for past performance, which is what most pro-sports contracts are.
If Murphy doesn't improve, they slightly overpaid for a bottom pairing defenseman that they can probably easily move.
If he does improve, and he does remain a player with a high ceiling, then this could be a homerun.