Robert Murphy (born April 7, 1969) is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

former professional

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

player. Murphy played parts of seven seasons in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

(NHL) between 1987 and 1994 with the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division of the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

, and

Los Angeles Kings The Los Angeles Kings are a professional ice hockey team based in Los Angeles. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference and was founded on June 5, 1967, after Jack Kent ...

. Selected by the Canucks in the

1987 NHL Entry Draft The 1987 NHL Entry Draft was the 25th NHL Entry Draft. It was held at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, and was the first draft held in the United States. The National Hockey League (NHL) teams selected 252 players eligible for entry into p ...

, Murphy turned professional in 1988 and spent the next five seasons playing for the Canucks and their minor International Hockey League (IHL) affiliate. He followed that by stints with the Senators and Kings, going between the NHL and IHL until moving to the Deutsche Eishockey Liga in Germany in 1997, playing the last six years of his career there.

Playing career

Murphy played his junior hockey for the Laval Titan of the

QMJHL The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (french: Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec; abbreviated ''QMJHL'' in English, ''LHJMQ'' in French) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The le ...

, and was the top pick of the

(24th overall) in the

. A strapping 6'3" center with toughness and a decent scoring touch, Murphy was held in very high regard by Canuck management who felt he could be the team's answer to

Joel Otto Joel Stuart Otto (born October 29, 1961) is an American former professional ice hockey center in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Calgary Flames and Philadelphia Flyers. An undrafted player, Otto signed with the Flames as a free agent in ...

, the star defensive center for the rival

Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...

. Murphy made his NHL debut at the age of just 18 in the 1987–88 campaign, appearing in 5 games for the Canucks, and appeared in 8 more contests the following year while still playing junior. In 1989, he was selected to represent Canada at the World Junior Championships, where the team finished 4th. In 1989–90, Murphy was named the IHL Rookie of the Year after scoring 71 points in 64 games for the

Milwaukee Admirals The Milwaukee Admirals are a professional ice hockey team in the American Hockey League (AHL). They play in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Panther Arena. They are affiliated with the NHL's Nashvil ...

, and scored his first NHL goal in a 12-game stint in Vancouver. The following season, he appeared in 42 games for the Canucks, notching 5 goals and an assist for 6 points. However, by this point the club was becoming frustrated with his slow development. In 1991–92, Murphy found himself back in the minors full-time, appearing in only 6 games for Vancouver. Exposed in the

1992 NHL Expansion Draft The 1992 NHL Expansion Draft was an expansion draft held by the National Hockey League (NHL) to fill the rosters of the league's two expansion teams for the 1992–93 season, the Ottawa Senators and the Tampa Bay Lightning. The draft was held on ...

, Murphy was claimed by the

. As a member of the inaugural Senators squad, he set career highs by appearing in 44 games and recording 10 points, but again could not establish himself as an NHL regular. Released by Ottawa, he signed as a free agent with the

, where he would play his final 8 NHL games in the 1993–94 season. After leaving the Los Angeles organization, Murphy spent two seasons with the

Fort Wayne Komets The Fort Wayne Komets are a minor league ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Indiana. This team was previously a member of the Central Hockey League, the original Inte ...

of the IHL before moving to Germany in 1997 to sign for SB Rosenheim of the

DEL Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes ...

. He would spend six seasons in Germany, the last three with the

Hannover Scorpions The Hannover Scorpions are a professional ice hockey team, which plays in the Oberliga, Germany's third tier ice hockey league. They previously played in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga from 1996 to 2013. History Founded in 1975 as ESC Wedemark, the ...

, before retiring in 2003. In his career, Murphy appeared in 125 NHL games, recording 9 goals and 12 assists for 21 points, along with 152 penalty minutes.

Career statistics

Regular season and playoffs

International

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Rob 1969 births Living people Anglophone Quebec people Arizona Coyotes scouts Buffalo Sabres scouts Canadian ice hockey centres Drummondville Voltigeurs players Eisbären Berlin players EV Landshut players Fort Wayne Komets players Hannover Scorpions players Ice hockey people from Gatineau Laval Titan players Los Angeles Kings players Milwaukee Admirals (IHL) players New Haven Senators players Ottawa Senators players Ottawa Senators scouts Phoenix Roadrunners (IHL) players Starbulls Rosenheim players Vancouver Canucks draft picks Vancouver Canucks players