Man of the Week: Trevor Murphy

KHL.ru continues its ‘Man of the Week’ column with Trevor Murphy. The Sibir defenseman has been chosen as last week’s top defenseman as he keeps on being a strong contributor on the blue liner for the Novosibirsk franchise.

One of the top scorers from the blue line in the Eastern Conference, Trevor Murphy is in his fifth season in the league, having previously lined up for Kunlun Red Star and Ak Bars prior to joining Sibir in 2021. The productive defenseman had a rocky start of the season, as he suffered from a serious lower-body injury after just four games that kept him out of Sibir’s lineup until late December. The Canadian returned to the ice on Sibir’s victory over Lada on Dec 19, but needed some time to adjust – he was left out the scoresheet for five games after your return, before finally returning to his usual production last week. Murphy scored 4 (2+2) points in two games, including netting the game-winner in Sibir’s win over Admiral on Wednesday (4:1). For his efforts, he was awarded the Best defenseman honors for the first time in his career.

Early years

Trevor Murphy was born on Jul 17, 1995, in Windsor, Ontario. One of his first team were the Sun County Panthers AAA, who also have produced former KHL players Kerby Rychel and Kyle Wellwood. Murphy was very effective for the Panthers on the blue line, and was then drafted in the OHL by the Peterborough Petes in 2011. He was then quickly traded to his hometown team, the Windsor Spitfires, where he played the reminder of his junior career. He was pretty successful for the Spitfires, especially in his senior year, where he had more than a point a game, producing 63 (24+39) points in 59 regular-season games from the blue line.

Having gone unnoticed in the 2014 and 2015 NHL Entry Drafts, he later participated in the Nashville Predators prospect camp. On Sep 17, 2015, he inked an entry-level contract with the Predators and was subsequently assigned to their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. However, in the final year of his contract, he was sent to the Arizona Coyotes, where he had his NHL debut in March 2018. He netted his first NHL goal a few days later as it was his first and only stint in the big league, ended with a respectable 3 (1+2) points in eight games.

Murphy started the next season again in the AHL, then was traded to the Anaheim Ducks in exchange for today Admiral’s forward Giovanni Fiore – he was consequently assigned down to the Ducks’ AHL affiliates, the San Diego Gulls. Following four North American professional seasons with limited NHL exposure, the blue liner decided to embark on an international venture by signing his inaugural overseas contract. On Jun 7, 2019, he committed to a two-year deal with the Chinese club Kunlun Red Star in the KHL.

Move to the KHL

Murphy had an excellent inaugural season in the KHL, with 27 (10+17) points in 60 regular season games for the Dragons, good for fourth place in scoring within his new team. During his second year with Kunlun Red Star in the 2020–2021 season, Murphy, who had accumulated 8 assists in 17 games, was traded to the contending team Ak Bars Kazan on Dec 4, 2020. With Ak Bars, he contributed an additional 8 points in 21 regular-season games and played a role in the team’s progression to the Eastern Conference finals, where he added 4 points in 8 games. Despite his play with Ak Bars, his stint in Kazan was short-lived, as in August 2021 he was traded to Sibir for monetary compensation.

Murphy had a good start of his first KHL campaign with Sibir, but after posting an encouraging 19 (6+13) points in 26 games, he was set out for the season following an injury suffered during the Channel One Cup as a Team Canada member. He returned very strong in the next season, the 2022-2023 campaign, posting 46 (10+36) points from the blue line for Sibir, being the third scorer for Novosibirsk behind Taylor Beck and Alexander Sharov. In the entire league, he trailed only Alexander Nikishin among defensemen.

This year, Murphy had another serious injury, but he is returned producing to his normal level. Sibir’s playoff push will depend also on his production from the blue line.