The Blackhawks’ defensive system is not one in which many defensemen thrive. Jeremy Colliton’s man-to-man system has seen players like Nikita Zadorov and Calvin de Haan drop in quality of play, partially because the system takes away what they are best at doing.
And yet, there are players like Connor Murphy who do thrive, perhaps despite the system in which he is locked in. Murphy was one of the best defensemen in the league this season by both expected and real goals above replacement (Murphy finished with 6.8 xGAR and 7.6 GAR), mostly due to his defensive play (Murphy had 4 defensive GAR and 3.