Connor Murphy’s 2025-26 season with the Blackhawks ended the way plenty of his Chicago years did: with steady work, a lot of trust, and a move that made sense for both sides.
The 32-year-old was no longer logging the kind of heavy minutes he once did, but he still looked sharp in a reduced role on the third pair. In 60 games before the trade, Murphy finished with 13 points, including four goals and nine assists, along with 62 hits and 87 blocks.
His underlying numbers weren’t spotless, but the Blackhawks kept sending him out of the defensive zone first, with about 75% of his starts coming there. That said plenty about how Jeff Blashill viewed him on a young roster.
Chicago dealt Murphy to the Edmonton Oilers on March 2, 2026, bringing back a future second-round pick in the 2028 season. It was another move aimed at adding to the draft-pick stockpile, and it also sent Murphy into playoff hockey for the first time in his career last season.
For the Blackhawks, Murphy’s departure closed the book on one of the team’s longest-tenured players in recent memory. He had become a familiar presence on the blue line, not flashy, but reliable. He also brought an edge, willing to drop the gloves and step in when things got chippy, especially for younger teammates.
The grades reflected that kind of season. Blackhawks Cowboy gave Murphy a B-, calling him a consistent presence in a rebuild.
Tony Marchese also landed on a B, pointing to his 13 points, his average of just over 16:30 of ice time per night, and his -3 plus/minus in his final 60 games with Chicago. Ron Luce matched that with a B as well, noting that Murphy seemed to find a little extra in the tank, helped anchor a penalty kill that was among the league’s best, and then got his first taste of postseason hockey after the trade.
Murphy has since signed an extension in Edmonton: a five-year deal with a $4.1 million AAV. For the Oilers, he’ll be counted on to help them get back to the playoffs. For the Blackhawks, the return is simple for now - a 2028 draft pick sitting in the asset pile.
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But the trade also invites a harder question: whether Chicago paid for certainty in a market that may have offered more paths to the same fix. Free-agent veterans such as John Klingberg, Jacob Trouba and John Carlson were out there as possible alternatives, and there were other avenues the Blackhawks could have explored if they wanted to avoid surrendering so much future capital. Buffalo, meanwhile, turned the pick it received from Chicago into defenseman Daxon Rudolph, a reminder that the cost of landing Byram was about more than just the contract. [Read more 🡒]