Will the defense be better this year?

[MHO]

I don't know if it's Murphy love or just love that Murphy is more than the pylons out there that were playing 18 minutes a night at times last season

 

[Hawkaholic]

Murph was bad last year, his worst year as a Hawk for sure. Subtract that?

It's not a coincidence that before last year he always finished +20 over Seth Jones while not being an offensive driver himself. He's always been a beast at knocking guys off the puck which is what a Dman should be doing with proper coverage, not sure where you think he's someone prone to turnovers or losing board battles unless you're only playing johnny come lately. 23/24 was a bad go for him and he sat out half the season too. We'll see if he bounces back.

Definitely his worse season, but he's been on the decline for several seasons now, and isn't getting younger. Not to mention, he's always been overrated by some posters here. At his best he was a 4/5D man.

 

[WarriorofTime]

I can't think of too many NHL Defensemen around the League that would have found much success if 62.1 % of their even strength ice time came paired with one of Kevin Korchinski (32.4 %), Jarred Tinordi (15.3 %) or Isaak Phillips (14.4 %).

Any typical Middle-3 defenseman is going to struggle there.

 

[Muffinalt]

I just realized Brodie probably got that second year just in case of a possible Murphy trade.