
Ryan Murray
As bad as the values of Palmieri and Gusev have tanked, the Devils have done no favors to the value of one of their top acquisitions of the offseason. Ryan Murray was supposed to be the player to calm down Subban’s game after it went chaotic evil last season. Subban has been better, but he’s still far from good.
Murray seems to be getting a lot of flack for how bad the Devils penalty kill is. Listen, he wasn’t good on the unit, but he’s definitely not deserving of being a healthy scratch. However, the Devils defense is playing better. It’s hard to figure out what this team’s issue is, but sitting good players when they are likely going to be a trade asset doesn’t seem like the best move.
Murray doesn’t have a path back into the lineup as long as Will Butcher is playing well, which he has after being paired with Sami Vatanen. Lindy Ruff doesn’t seem to play his defensemen on their off hand, and the Devils defensemen seem like they aren’t good at it anyway.
Murray was acquired for a 5th-round pick from the Columbus Blue Jackets in the offseason. It seems like the Devils could easily get that back. Despite Murray’s struggles on the penalty kill, that seems to be uniquely an issue on the Devils. Murray has allowed as many total chances on the penalty kill in 12 games as he did last season in 26 games. He’s seen seven high-danger goals against him after only seeing two all last season. Something is off here.
A team will see that, and teams give up 5th-round picks for just about anything. The Devils still have 5th rounders to spend from Keith Kinkaid and Wayne Simmonds trades. Replacing the lost asset is all the Devils will want here.