The New Jersey Devils might have landed a stud when they acquired Ryan Murray from the Columbus Blue Jackets. He was the second overall pick in the 2012 NHL Draft. He hasn’t necessarily lived up to being the second overall pick but he has become a very good NHL defenseman. The offense never developed into what we thought it would back then and that is why we consider him to be someone who never reached their full potential.
Even with that, he is a very good defensive defenseman. You didn’t make that Team North America in the World Cup of Hockey if you were an extremely talented young player. Murray did just that and has been awesome on the Columbus Blue Jackets blue line for a while now. At 27 years old, he is ready for a new start with a new team.
Murray’s partner is yet to be decided but it feels like he has one of two options. He is almost certain to line up with one of Damon Severson or P.K. Subban on the back end. Both of those guys are offensive-minded defenseman that has a lot of holes in their game on the defensive side. Adding a steady back-end presence like Murray could really help either of them do what they do best.
All three of these guys are going to be great at helping New Jersey play better. They added an NHL forward, defenseman, and goaltender so all areas are covered as far as improvement. There is a long way to go before we consider them a playoff team but they have some nice pieces that should help them be competitive this year. These three guys could really help them out with that.