On August 31st, the Chicago Blackhawks and Connor Murphy agreed to a four-year contract extension. The 28-year old native of Dublin, Ohio will be staying in Chicago until the end of the 2025-26 season. The contract came out to be for four years, $17.6 million with an AAV of $4.4M per season. Murphy will be going into his fifth season (ninth season total) with the Blackhawks this year, his longest with any team. He finished last season with 15 points in 50 games for Chicago. Murphy is mostly looked at for his defensiveness of the game more so than his offense. Locking him up for four more seasons after this year will give the team a top line of Murphy and Seth Jones for the next five seasons.
Murphy’s Time in Chicago
The Blackhawks acquired Connor Murphy before the 2017-18 season that saw the team trade three-time Stanley Cup defenseman (all with Chicago) Niklas Hjalmarsson to Arizona. Chicago Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman after the extension said about Murphy, “When we acquired Connor in the summer of 2017, we had visions of him growing as both a player and leader in our organization for many years,”. Murphy has been a solid defenseman for the Blackhawks since 2017 when he is able to stay healthy. Unfortunately, he has had to deal with some injuries the last couple of years, more so with his back. Although, when he is healthy, Murphy is a solid blue liner all things considered.
All in all, a 4×4.4 is a pretty solid deal for the Blackhawks and Murphy after the upcoming season concludes. To be able to have a top pairing like Murphy and Seth Jones together for the next five years is ideal for the team. As long as Connor stays healthy, and Seth gets back to his top-15 defenseman potential, these two could be a solid blue line force for years to come for the Blackhawks. Only time will tell for the team and Murhpy. Blackhawks fans should be excited for what’s to come with Murphy staying in Chicago until the summer of 2026.
My name is Zach Martin, the Chicago Blackhawks beat writer for Belly Up Sports and Belly Up Hockey. Also, a writer for the Cleveland Browns. Follow me on Twitter for the most up-to-date Blackhawks, and Browns content and news. I’m a co-host on a hockey podcast, Cannons & Tomahawks, that talks about all things NHL.
