New York Rangers linked to top defensive trade candidate from the Western Conference

Murphy has been rumored for several weeks to be linked with other teams throughout the NHL has had a bounce back year compared to last year as his stat line continues to grow.

The Rangers had been busy on Saturday as they made a trade with the Colorado Avalanche which sent defenseman Ryan Lindgren, forward Jimmy Vesey and the rights to Hank Kempf to the avalanche in exchange for Calvin de Haan, Jusso Parssinen and 2 conditional 2025 draft picks.

Moving Lindgren who will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season has now opened the possibility of another defenseman to come in through the trade deadline.

Murphy who holds the cap hit a $4.4 million for this year and for next year has a modified no trade clause that holds 10 teams. No one knows whether the Rangers are on that no trade list but it's quite unlikely.

Players like Murphy who stand at six foot 4 and 212 lbs would certainly give the Rangers bigger size on their back end and would help them in the second or third pairing and give them more of a shutdown role.

Murphy has played 47 games for the Blackhawks, scoring one goal with 15 assists for 16 points but is a -6 and can play 20 minutes and 47 seconds of average ice time.

The Rangers also have defensemen like K'Andre Miller who will also be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season Ann has been rumored to be on his way out of the Big Apple.

General manager Chris Drury is far from done remaking his team and it's safe to say that more trades will be coming in the next number of days as trade discussions heat up amongst the teams in the league.