The Chicago Blackhawks play the Montreal Canadiens on Tuesday, and they will not have Connor Murphy in the lineup.
According to Mark Lazerus of the Chicago Sun-Times, Murphy is a healthy scratch for this game. He’s appeared in three games for the Blackhawks, his new team, this season, averaging just over 16 minutes per night, which is below his career average of 18:44.
This summer, the Blackhawks acquired the 24-year-old Murphy from the Arizona Coyotes but had to part with veteran blue liner Niklas Hjalmarsson, a key member of the organization’s three Stanley Cup wins, as part of the deal. That’s a significant move for Chicago.
Murphy, a right-shooting blue liner, is in the second year of a six-year, $23.1 million contract, which he signed with Arizona. That deal carries an annual cap hit of $3.85 million, so the organization would certainly like him to become a key member of the Blackhawks defense going forward. So far, he has zero points in three games and is sporting a Corsi For rating of 32.7 per cent, per Hockey Reference.
Chicago’s lineup versus the Habs includes Cody Franson, who initially joined the club on a PTO, and right-shooting Czech defenseman Jan Rutta. This isn’t an ideal start for Murphy as a member of the Blackhawks, though it is only the fourth game of the season, too.