Originally posted by mike:Originally posted by OnTheClock:I still want to keep Murray, honestly. Until we find a young guy ready to replace him among our 8-deep group, whether it's Doherty, Demelo, or whoever.. I think we need him around for that physical presence.
Vlasic-Burns
Murray-Boyle
Stewart-Braun/Demers
All those lines can get good PT. We would only need to add one more guy, probably an experienced player, or they could possibly look to a young rookie too.
Stuart not Stewart, confused me for a second there lol.
You don't need 8 experienced dmen you need 6 and then those prospects you mentioned can be perfectly fine to fill in for injuries as necessary. Plus we almost always get a cheap veteran 7th dman for occasional spot duty(in the past its been guys like leach, staubitz, ect). 7th dman is not a huge need and usually doesn't play serious minutes(if any, healthy scratch) unless there are injuries.
Stuart fills in the top 4 over Murray pretty much guaranteed. He's just a better overall defenseman. He's not as physical as Murray, but that's not a knock on Stuart he's plenty physical. Then you have Braun and Demers as a perfectly fine pairing. Add Murray into the bottom pair mix and you take time away from young guys like Demers and Braun who need every minute they can get to improve their own games. There also just aren't many fringe 6/7th dmen making 2.5 million a year.
Hockey players also don't have the ability to restructure contracts. I'd keep him if he was 1-1.5m a year which is what purely physical role players are paid.
Whoops, don't know what I was writing there. Total brain fart.
Anyways, I had been thinking and I can totally agree that if we want to put the top pairings, it would be:
Vlasic-Burns
Stuart-Boyle
Braun/Murray-Demers/Murray
I don't know what we're going to do with Murray, if anything, but it's hard for me to see this team without him. He's probably my favorite player. The guy has been a beast for us when it comes to being the guy to deliver a momentum changing hit, block a shot, or clear the crease. But it's hard for anyone to argue against the fact that he is a liability often times due to the lack of speed, and it really depends on the opponent when it comes to how effective Murray can be when he plays. He's a monster when we need to match up physically, but when we face a team built on speed that knows how to wear him down, he struggles.
Honestly, i don't think we would go wrong either way -- keeping him or shipping him off -- but if we let him go, I just hope we can get good compensation.