Breaking up some of the negativity, the Philadelphia Flyers announced Wednesday that they have signed defense prospect Ty Murchison to a two-year, entry-level contract that begins with the 2025-26 season.
Murchison, 22, was the Flyers’ fifth-round pick, 158th overall, back in the 2021 NHL Draft, and the unheralded prospect is actually a bigger addition than most realize.
To start with the obvious, the Flyers simply do not have many left-shot defense prospects in their prospect pool at this time.
Emil Andrae has seemingly graduated to the NHL level, which leaves Adam Ginning, now 25 years old, and Hunter McDonald as the only two left-shot prospects on the Lehigh Valley Phantoms.
Ginning and McDonald will both become free agents at the end of next season, and in the former’s case, he is running out of time to a.) make the NHL, and b.) prove that he should stay in the NHL.
Among the Flyers’ unsigned defense prospects is lefty Brian Zanetti, a 6-foot-3 Swiss defenseman and a former fourth-round pick who has spent the last two years playing for the SCL Tigers after two seasons of CHL hockey with the OHL’s Peterborough Petes.
The 22-year-old is under contract with HC Lugano for the 2025-26 season, according to EliteProspects, and the Flyers will lose his signing rights if the two sides cannot agree to a contract by June 1.
That leaves only Murchison left for the Flyers, who is now importantly under contract with the team and will not be seeing his own signing rights expire in the summer.
So, now that this has been signed, sealed, and delivered, what is Murchison all about? What can, or will, he offer to the Flyers organization?
Assessing Ty Murchison’s play style, ceiling
The 6-foot-2 Murchison has spent the last four seasons playing NCAA hockey for Arizona State University, for whom he appeared in 145 games, scoring nine goals, 14 assists, and 23 points, as well as piling up 279 penalty minutes.
The two things that stand out from the raw numbers are the lack of points, and the wealth of penalty minutes.
Murchison is not adept with the puck on his stick whatsoever, but he’s adequately mobile at 6-foot-2, 205 pounds. The Corona, Calif., native is a violent player, always looking to take the body and eliminate his opponents from the play as early and as often as possible.
Murchison excels with a physical game, whether it’s throwing bone-crushing hits or going all out to block a shot.
The Flyers’ former fifth-round pick was just named the NCHC Defensive Defenseman of the Year, and there’s no question his ASU-record and NCHC-leading 98 blocked shots played a big part in that, too.
To quickly sum that up, the Flyers have the reigning NCHC Defensive Defenseman of the Year in Murchison, as well as the reigning NCHC Forward of the Year in Alex Bump.
Murchison could reasonably become a bottom-pair NHL defenseman, especially if matched with a more offensive-minded player. Think of a player like Brenden Dillon as a high-end example of this.
Murchison’s NHL comparison
One Flyers defenseman known for throwing hits and blocking shots is none other than Nick Seeler, a fellow former collegiate defenseman who has a near-identical build (6-foot-2, 200 pounds) to Murchison.
Seeler, of course, has never been a big-time producer at any level, having last scored 20 or more points in a season in his last year of high school competition, which was way back in 2010-11.
The 31-year-old will turn 32 before the start of next season, and he won’t be getting any younger.
Seeler’s rugged, physical style will inevitably take a toll on his body, though not all bumps and bruises are the same.
Between Murchison and McDonald, the Flyers have ensured they have an heir apparent for Seeler in the building and under contract with the organization developing with the team’s pro staffs.
We can expect Murchison to kick off his pro career in the AHL with the Lehigh Valley Phantoms, as it will take him at least a year to adapt to a faster pro game with his limited puck skills.
Beyond that, though, the Flyers have filled out some organizational gaps to afford other players, like Andrae, the extended opportunities they have earned.
AHL teams lining up against Murchison, McDonald, and the Phantoms better start investing in some ice packs ahead of next season, because they’ll need them.
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