Joe Murphy

Joseph Patrick Murphy (born October 16, 1967) is a Canadian former professional hockey player who was chosen first overall in the 1986 NHL entry draft. Murphy won Calder Cup and NCAA championships before reaching the NHL.

Although Murphy struggled to make the expected impact after being selected first overall by the Detroit Red Wings, he was traded to the Edmonton Oilers in 1989. His production began to increase significantly in the 1990 playoffs to help Edmonton win their fifth Stanley Cup in seven seasons, and this success continued through his time in Edmonton. A contract dispute led to a trade to the Chicago Blackhawks in 1993, where he remained very productive. Murphy's later years were spent with the St. Louis Blues, San Jose Sharks, Boston Bruins, and Washington Capitals.

Playing career Detroit Red Wings

Joe Murphy became the first NCAA college player to be selected first overall when he was selected in the 1986 NHL entry draft by the Detroit Red Wings. Murphy had been a stand out centre with Michigan State, but with Steve Yzerman and Adam Oates handling the first and second line duties in Detroit, Murphy found little room to develop his game with the Red Wings. He spent the bulk of his rookie pro season in the American Hockey League with the Wings farm club in Adirondack.

The following season Murphy split time between the AHL and the NHL playing fifty games with Detroit after converting to right wing. He managed just ten goals and 19 points and ended up back in the minor leagues for the majority of the 1988–89 season where he really found his game putting up 31 goals and 66 points in just 47 games. That spring Murphy played a key role for the Adirondack Red Wings capturing the Calder Cup to complete his breakout pro season. The next season, 1989–90, Murphy scored three goals in the first nine games of the season for the Red Wings. He was then shipped to the Edmonton Oilers as part of a blockbuster six-player trade that landed Jimmy Carson and Kevin McClelland with the Red Wings and sent Murphy, Adam Graves, Petr Klíma and Jeff Sharples to Edmonton.

During a game the following season against the Detroit Red Wings, one of Murphy's former teammates, Shawn Burr, sent Murphy crashing into the boards with a hard check. Murphy's face hit the "dasher," the area where the glass met the boards at a 90-degree angle, at full speed. Despite the severity of the hit as well as massive bleeding from what he later claimed was a fractured skull, Murphy stayed in the game. During a shift in the second period, Murphy was racing down the ice on a breakaway, but his vision was so blurry that fired the puck into the glass in the corner rather than take a shot on net, leading a concerned teammate to grab him and pull him back to the bench.

Murphy built on this success the next year scoring 27 goals and 62 points then improved again the following year with career-best totals of 35 goals and 82 points. That spring Murphy led the surprising Oilers all the way to the Conference Finals where they fell to Chicago but Murphy's team leading 24 points in just 16 playoff games saw him finish fourth in post season scoring despite his team not playing in the final round. The breakthrough offensive totals came at the right time for Murphy whose contract expired following the season. Murphy and Oilers General Manager Glen Sather tried to work out a new contract through the summer with no success and ultimately broke off talks in September, before training camp with the two sides $300,000 apart. With Murphy holding out, the 1992–93 season went on with him working out with the Detroit Falcons of the Colonial Hockey League and awaiting a trade that wouldn't come until February. but after scoring 20-goals and 45 points he fell short of the lofty expectations that came with his new contract. The next season, he posted just four goals and 13 points in 29 games before the Blues traded him to the San Jose Sharks for defensemen Todd Gill. Because of his large contract, the Blues also needed to send cash to San Jose in the transaction to get the deal done.

With the Sharks, Murphy rebounded and put up 9 points in ten games then led the team with 25 goals the following year and finished second on the team with 48 points. Despite his success, he left the team as a free agent in the off-season and was unable to find any takers.

Late career turmoil The off-season came and went with Murphy not finding work before he eventually managed to land a try-out with the New York Rangers in November 1999. Rangers General Manager Neil Smith had been the GM of Adirondack when Murphy played for the club so the two had some history. However the tryout was very short lived as Murphy signed a contract with the Boston Bruins less than a week after beginning his try out with the Rangers. The Rangers, who weren't offered a chance to match the offer, felt spurned in the situation and Murphy made bizarre accusations about his sticks being partially sawed in half and one of his skates being "thrown in the river" by Smith.

Things in Boston didn't go much better for Murphy. He lasted just 26 games with the Bruins before the team suspended him indefinitely for "screaming profanities at coach Pat Burns." Murphy made few friends in the Bruins locker room and was said to have questioned his teammates' work ethic and was known to tell off both teammates and the coaching staff. "This has been going on for a while," Burns said at the time of the suspension. "The players have had enough and I have had enough." The Bruins, unable to find a team willing to trade for Murphy, placed the winger on waivers where he was claimed by the Washington Capitals.

With Washington, Murphy was given a very short leash. Team officials did their due diligence speaking with former coaches and teammates of Murphy before making the claim and General Manager George McPhee said if Murphy caused any issues with team he would be shipped out immediately.

The following day the Capitals demoted Murphy to their AHL affiliate, the Portland Pirates. When Murphy refused to report, the Capitals suspended him. He never played professional hockey again. Murphy tried — and failed — to file for workers compensation because the incident happened while he was traveling for work. The Department of Employment Services ruled that while Murphy was in New York for work reasons and the dinner was a team event, the bar Murphy traveled to after the dinner had nothing to do with his employment. Murphy appealed the decision and lost.

Post-retirement life In 2013, Murphy became the first coach and general manager of the GMHL Alliston Coyotes in their inaugural, 2013–14 season. However, he took a leave of absence from the team midway through the playoffs due to an undisclosed allegation which resulted in a Trespass Order issued against him by the Town of New Tecumseth, which includes Alliston. The order barred Murphy from all New Tecumseth recreation facilities, including the Coyotes' home rink, pending an Ontario Provincial Police investigation. On March 5, 2014, Murphy formally announced his resignation.

In 2017, Murphy was living in Costa Rica. He ended up living on the streets and was eventually deported back to Canada.

On July 6, 2018, Murphy visited the studios of Q104 / KenoraOnline and DrydenNow to talk about his struggles with post-concussion symptoms, as well as his participation in the class action lawsuit with the NHL. He acknowledged that despite earning over $15 million during his NHL career, he was essentially homeless and destitute in Kenora, Ontario. Murphy further elaborated upon his situation in "Finding Murph", a SportsCentre feature that aired in August 2018. The segment's creators, Josh Shiaman, Rick Westhead, Stuart Roberts, Devon Burns and Michael Banani, received a Canadian Screen Award nomination for Best Sports Feature Segment at the 7th Canadian Screen Awards.

In October 2018, the Detroit Free Press reported that Murphy was still homeless in Kenora. The report stated that his situation was caused by multiple concussions resulting in symptoms of frequent headaches, wild mood swings, and personality changes, including becoming an enforcer, starting to take drugs and alcohol. That same month, the CTV News television program W5 produced a segment following two reporters from sister-network The Sports Network, as they looked in on Murphy, who admitted he had been living in shelters and tents around Ontario, where much of his earnings in the NHL had once been donated to various projects.

In March 2019, Murphy completed treatment through the Adult Mental Health Services (AMHS) live-in program at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre. In August 2019, USA Today reported Murphy was once again homeless in Kenora and "refusing help". In the summer of 2020, Murphy was living on the streets of Regina, Saskatchewan.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs

International Year Team Event GP G A Pts PIM 1986 Canada WJC 7 4 10 14 2

Awards and achievements 1985-86 - NCAA - NCAA Championship (Michigan State) 1988–89 - AHL - Calder Cup (Adirondack) 1989–90 - NHL - Stanley Cup (Edmonton)