The Edmonton Oilers are set to acquire some physicality and experience on the blue line for a potential playoff run.
Talks are intensifying between the Oilers and Chicago Blackhawks on a trade that will send defenceman Connor Murphy to Edmonton, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported Monday.
The return for Chicago was not initially reported.
The six-foot-four Murphy is on an expiring contract and has a cap hit of $4.4 million.
Murphy, 32, has 47 goals and 126 assists for 173 points in 805 career games with the Blackhawks and Arizona Coyotes. He has four goals and nine assists in 60 games this season, and is registering an average of 16:34 of ice time per game.
The Coyotes took the Dublin, Ohio, native 20th overall in the 2011 draft.
The move to bring in Murphy bolsters the Oilers’ blue line, giving them a defensive defenceman to hopefully shore up a unit that has allowed the fifth-most goals in the NHL this season (203). Their 144 goals against at even strength are the second-most.
One of the Blackhawks’ penalty-killers and an alternate captain, Murphy could also help the Oilers’ seventh-worst penalty-kill, which has only a 76.92 per cent success rate this season. The Blackhawks currently employ the best penalty-kill in the NHL (85.71 per cent).
The Oilers are currently third in the Pacific Division with a 29-24-8 record.
