Having finished their eleventh season in franchise history, Columbus has only once picked outside of the top ten, when they drafted John Moore at 21st overall. In their time span, Columbus has selected the likes of Rick Nash, Nikolai Zherdev, Derick Brassard and recently Ryan Johansen in the first round. We all know how it's turned out for the Blue Jackets; only Nash has become a perennial star in the NHL, and Columbus has only seen the post season once, briefly.
After the failures of former General Manager, Doug MacLean, Scott Howson has taken the Jackets on, continuing to build through the draft in hopes of finding more pieces to the Columbus puzzle. In his time with Columbus, Howson has selected Voracek, Filatov, Moore and Johansen with his first round picks, with only Voracek seeing any real time with the club.
"With the eight pick in this year's draft, Columbus is proud to select, from the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League... Ryan Murphy."
Former teammate of prospect, John Moore, Murphy adds another high end pucking moving defenseman to the Jackets system; a hot commodity in today's NHL.
The most skilledblueliner in the 2011 NHL Draft, Murphy is an offensive defenseman with some question marks around his size and overall effectiveness to play a two-way game at the NHL level. Made famous by Don Cherry on Hockey Night in Canada, Murphy brings back flashes of Bobby Orr's end to end rushes.
At any given time, Murphy is the best skater on the ice, and can take off without a moment's notice. With his ability to rush the puck as well as he does, most coaches will let him take risks; or else his game would be deemed ineffective. Murphy can control the puck well on the rush, and has off the chart hockey IQ and vision to make passes up the ice, or on the Powerplay, where Murphy is one of the best.
Aheavy point shot effectively makes Murphy both a triggerman and setup guy on the point; a diversity that allows him time and space.
Defensively, Murphy put in a good deal of work this season to improve upon his lackluster efforts in his own end last season, where he was second in defenseman points for Kitchener, behind Moore. While it's never expected that Murphy will be a shutdown type in the NHL, Murphy's positioning and stick work is effective enough to not be a liability with continued work. He'll need to get away from chasing in his own end, where he can get lost regularly. His game will rely solely on keeping opponents to the outside, and clogging up passing lanes.
On pure skill, Murphy is an NHL player right now, though his weight and strength need improvement. A good offseason of training following the Under 18's could see Murphy in the NHL as an 18 year old next season, though it would be entirely up to the team that drafts him.
A well liked guy in the dressing room, Murphy is wise beyond his years and a mature kid while under the intense spotlight of being a Kitchener Ranger.
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