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Connor Murphy And Young Guns Have Work To Do On Blue Line

By William Grigsby

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Connor Murphy, Brandon Gormley, and Michael Stone are finding their stride

As a hockey fan, though, this is frustrating.

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Looking back at the Blackhawks' trades involving Andrew Ladd /

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    • This season, the team is 27th in goals against — a hard pill to swallow after finishing 11th during their excellent 2011-2012 season, where they went to the Western Conference Finals. That season, the goal differential was +12 — so far this year, it is a disappointing -51.

    That’s a 63 goal drop in just over half a season of play, which many attribute to a drop in defensive prowess.

    If the defense doesn’t start performing up to expectations, it seems — at the very least — some changes could be inevitable. GM Don Maloney has already voiced that fact, and new majority owner Andrew Barroway has suggested the team might need to follow a similar objective down the road.

    The hardest thing to take into account, of course, is that the Coyotes are host to one of the youngest defensive corps in the league — like the above pictured Connor Murphy.

    It’s a tough transition, and it shows most on the young guys — so when you have almost an entire defensive lineup in their early twenties, it shows. Even Connor Murphy — the team’s first round pick from 2011 — is showing signs of distress. He had a much higher +/- in his thirty games last season, coming in with a +5. In contrast, this year sees him at a -11 only 41 games in.

    “Even Connor Murphy — the team’s first round pick from 2011 — is showing signs of distress. He had a much higher +/- in his thirty games last season, coming in with a +5. In contrast, this year sees him at a -11 only 41 games in.”

    Brandon Gormley has been rather impressive, as far as young guys go; of all the young blue liners, the team’s deficiencies this season have hurt him the least. It’s true that he’s seen limited minutes, but on a team with a collective -219, he’s even on the +/- statistic.

    Looking at the struggles of the young blue line, though, a far more illustrative statistic is the ratio of takeaways versus giveaways. I found this to better indicate — at least, from a graphic standpoint — the difference between last year’s team, who barely missed the playoffs, and this year’s team, who are unable to hit the playoffs this season at all.

    Let’s look at Keith Yandle’s numbers on this:  his takeaway:giveaway ratio is 15:47 this season, which amounts to a 76% giveaway ratio.

    As a power play “quarterback”, he’s expected to handle the puck more — presenting him with more opportunities to lose the puck.

    Much like taking too many penalties, though, losing possession too often can hurt the team in the long run — and Yandle has trended in the wrong direction this season in that area. Last season, Yands’ takeaway:giveaway ratio was 31:65, coming to a 68% giveaway ratio.

    As would be expected, Yandle’s 76% giveaway ratio is higher than the team’s collective giveaway ratio on defense; regardless, that ratio is still a 55:133, which puts the Arizona Coyotes’ defensive giveaway ratio at 71%.

    This would hurt less, but the team’s fourth line is subsequently picking up the slack; it’s likely that they’re masking bigger problems for the Coyotes’ blue line, which will need to be fixed as these players get older.  Kyle Chipchura has  a 63% takeaway ratio, while Lauri Korpikoski is good for a 73% takeaway ratio and newly acquired fourth liner Joe Vitale sits on a 66% takeaway ratio. Brandon McMillian might be masking more problems than anyone — he’s recorded an amazing 93% takeaway ratio this season. In contrast, that’s a 7% giveaway ratio — a far cry from the 76% Yandle has put up.

    Overall, since the fourth line is pulling the numbers closer to the 50% mark, the takeaway ratio we’re seeing on the blue line means that turnovers are brutal — as we’ve seen in the games where the Yotes are blown out. Perhaps Jim Playfair needs to work on this with the team to improve these numbers.

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