In his rookie year, defenseman Ryan Murray put up four goals and 17 assists for 21 points over the course of 66 games, ending the season with a plus four rating. He also played in five of six playoff games for the Blue Jackets, recording one assist and a minus one rating.
He underwent knee surgery in the offseason that resulted in an agonizingly slow rehabilitation. After starting this season on Injured Reserve, he played in just four games before re-aggravating the knee injury and heading back to Injured Reserve, retroactive to November 1.
He finally got the knee rehabbed to the point that he could return to the lineup. He then suffered a high-ankle sprain in just his third game back on February 6 against the St. Louis Blues. And so, back onto the roster of the Injured Reserve he went.
He played in his eighth game of the season Friday against the Edmonton Oilers, a 5-4 shootout victory. In 20:44 of ice time, he was credited with three shots on goal and a blocked shot. He might have shown a bit of rust, but his situational awareness was right where it should be.
"I felt pretty good (Friday night)," Murray said yesterday. "At the same time though, the guys were coming off a game. They played the night before (as did Edmonton), so it wasn't the quickest game. I expect our next games to be a lot quicker than that. It wasn't the most intense game I've seen. The body feels good and conditioning and everything thing else is good. I have no complaints at all."
The management and coaches have wanted to get Murray back into the lineup this season in order to continue his development before the season finishes April 11. Having played so little in his sophomore season, he has been limited in the growth that was expected of him.
"I think it's real important," he said of getting back out on the ice," just playing some games before the end of the year. After missing so many games, I just want to play and find a rhythm before the season ends. It's building momentum going into the summer and into next year."
"It would really suck not playing and then to have to pick up next year at the start. It's about getting a 'feel' for the game again at the end here."
With the team riddled with injuries this season to the tune of 439 man games lost going into Sunday's tilt with the Carolina Hurricanes, Murray has accounted for 60 games lost of that total. With just 14 games remaining on the schedule, getting the young defenseman time on the ice is of great importance.
"Just improving," Blue Jackets head coach Todd Richards said of what he expects from Murray down the stretch. "It's about playing the way we expect him to play and being the player that we think he can become. He's a good defender and a good first-pass guy out of the zone, his patience and poise. He's able to slow things down."
"When things get chaotic in your own zone, he's got poise with the puck that under pressure he can make a tight turn or pull up and snap the puck to the other side of the ice and find somebody that's open to relieve pressure. Now you're able to come out of the zone with possession of the puck instead of throwing off the glass and now they have it and its coming right back at you. I think Ryan can do those things."
Because of the extended rehabilitation time due to the injuries, will he have to alter his offseason training regimen?
"Yes, I think so," said Murray. "I'm going to start behind everyone else. I've lost a lot of muscle, especially in my lower body. I'm going to have to really get going here at the end of the year and work really hard this summer to get that back. And I think I'm going to have to do it in a little bit of a different way."
"Last summer I just didn't get any better. The knee was just acting up for everything. This year, I don't want that to happen again. I'm definitely going to be careful with it. But at the same time, I know how hard I have to work to get back to where I was."
With age comes maturity. In his second year as a pro, he's had to face adversity and sit on the sidelines watching the team play that drafted him. It has been a very slow process healing, but the organization has high hopes for him. He's already showing a maturity beyond his years, but don't think that it has gone to his head.
"This season hasn't helped," he said of maturing as a player. "But I think a lot of it is mental. It's playing with confidence. I'm young and have 'jump' in my legs and hopefully that lasts for many more years. But, I think it's the mental part of the game and figuring out how it's played at this level."
"You see guys like Toots (Fedor Tyutin) and how smart he is. He doesn't have to skate around a million miles an hour. He just knows where guys are going to be and he knows where pucks are going. That's really impressive."
Murray knows that making strides developmentally for the rest of this season is vital for him to keep pace with his teammates. He tasted the playoffs last season and both he and the other guys in the room want to get back to post-season play. This has been a trying year for all within the Blue Jackets, but he knows that they are a playoff-caliber team.
"We proved it last year," he said. "We proved what we have here. I think if everyone was healthy, we would have had a heck of a year. With guys coming in and out of the lineup, it's been a 'gong show' to be honest. I mean a guy like (David) Clarkson gets here and first game gets injured. It's almost not surprising."
"But, we're definitely confident in our group. I think even with the injuries everyone expected to do better. And we probably should have done better than we have so far. But, we just want to finish strong and really put this year behind us and learn from it. We're still a very young group and this is definitely something we can learn from."
That shared learning experience will be filed into their collective memory banks as they mature. Murray recognizes that they still have much to prove to their fans and the rest of the league.
"We want to bounce back because we'll all be a year older and a year more experienced. We don't ever want to go through a season like this again regardless of who is in the lineup or what happens to guys."
Programming Note: the Blue Jackets return to action Sunday afternoon at 5:00 p.m. as they play host to the Carolina Hurricanes. The FOX Sports Ohio pregame show "Blue Jackets LIVE" begins at 4:30 p.m.
