Douglas Murray will become an unrestricted free-agent if left unsigned on July 1st, 2014. Despite some strong defensive-numbers this season, Murray remains a posterchild for the importance of putting an emphasis on a defenseman's ability to move the puck safely out of the defensive-zone, rather than their ability to simply defend. Murray's numbers show that if a defensive-defenseman can't move the puck out of his zone, all he will ever do is defend, and defend, and defend.
Combining both playoff and regular season numbers, Murray was directly involved in the production of The fewest even-strength scoring-chances for per-60 among Habs defenseman. Murrray was also directly-responsible for the second-most even-strength scoring-chances against per-60. He was directly responsible for an average of 9.72 ES scoring-chances-against per-60, while the average Habs defensemen was responible for 7.38 per-60. As an example, Josh Gorges faced substantially tougher competition, and was responsible for only 5.88 chances-against per-60 minutes of even-strength ice-time.
In terms of points, number 6 contributed the fewest even-strength points per-60 among Habs defensemen. He also produced the fewest scoring-chances per-possession play, while his even-strength possession rating was the lowest of any Habs player.
Murray produced the sixth-most even-strength scoring-plays per-60 among Habs defensemen. He contributed the eighth-highest percentage of overall events with possession of the puck in the offensive-zone. Expressed simply, this shows that among Habs d-men, only one other defensemen spent less "time" with possession of the puck in the offensive-zone. Similarly, Murray spent the highest percentage of his overall events defending in the defensive-zone. Once again, expressed more simply, this tells us that among all Habs players, Murray spent the highest perentage of his overall events stuck without possession (defending) in the defensive-zone.
Murray produced the second-lowest even-strength ratio (number of successful plays for every 1 failed play) among Canadiens defensmen; His ratio was only better than Jarred Tinordi's. He also had the second-lowest rating (how many more successful plays than failed plays produced per-minute of ice-time). When ratings were adjusted for quality of competition, Murray's qualcom-adjusted rating of 1.34 actually dropped him to last among all Habs d-men.
Murray's defensive and possession numbers point to a one-dimensional player with poor puck-skills. At even-strength, Murray was successful with 67% of his attempts to remove puck-possession from the opposition, and 59% of his attempted plays with possession. His defensive success-rate was good enough for first among Habs d-men, while his possession success-rate was only eighth.
In the offensive-zone, Murray had a disappointing offensive-zone ratio of 1.37, and an offensive-zone rating of 0.12. Both numbers placed him last among Montreal defensemen. He produced the eighth-best offensive-zone puck-possession success-rate, as Murray was successful with only 39% of his attempted offensive-zone puck-possession plays. His passing success-rate in the offensive-zone was 47%, while his success-rate when attempting to get shots through to the net was 39%.
Murray's play in the defensive-zone does an excellent job of demonstrating both Murray's strengths and weaknesses. He produced a defensive-zone ratio of 2.54, to go along with a d-zone rating of 1.24. His ratio was seventh-best among Habs d-men, while his rating was eighth-best. Murray produced a defensive-zone puck-possession success-rate of 64% this season, while his defensive success-rate was 68%. His possession number placed him eighth among Habs d-men, while his defensive success-rate placed him first. Expressed simply, only one Habs defenseman (Tinordi) turned the puck over in the defensive-zone at a higher-rate than Murray, while no d-man was more successful when attempting to remove puck-possession from the opposition.
Murray had the highest success-rate among Habs d-men when attempting to remove possession from the opposition by way of a stick-check, and blocked the most shots per-60. Only Tinordi had a lower defensive-zone passing success-rate.
Murray's neutral-zone numbers were particularly brutal. He produced the lowest neutral-zone ratio among Habs d-men at 2.92, as well as the lowest rating (0.26). His neutral-zone puck-possession success-rate of 63% was worse than any other Montreal d-man, while his neutral-zone defensive success-rate of 76% was sixth-best.
Looking at the big picture; Murray turned the puck over 36% of the time he attempted a puck-possession play in the defensive-zone, and 37% of the time he attempted one in the neutral-zone. The average defensive-zone turnover-rate among Habs d-men was 28%, while the average neutral-zone turnover-rate was 27%
Murray's shorthanded performance was solid throughout the year. He produced the fourth-best defensive-zone rating and ratio while short-handed, and had the third-best defensive success-rate. He also had the third-best success-rate when attempting to dump the puck out of the defensive-zone while short-handed.
Murray was never an upgrade in Montreal. In fact, his performance should be used as a test-case for the dangers of focusing on a player's defensive performance over his puck-possession skills. A simple glance at the number of scoring-chances-against Murray was directly responsible for proves the importance of puck-moving defensmen. In terms of success-rates, blocked shots and stick-checks along the wall, Murray was the Habs top defensive-defenseman for most of the season; imagine the chances against if that wasn't the case.
