The Philadelphia Flyers announced Wednesday they’ve inked defenseman Ty Murchison, their fifth-round pick from the 2021 NHL Draft, to a two-year entry-level contract which begins in the 2025-26 season.
Murchison, 22, and a native of Corona, California, took part in the Flyers’ three previous Development Camps and wrapped up his NCAA career this season with the Arizona State University Sun Devils. The 6-foot-2, 205-pound blueliner played 146 regular-season games and is clearly a defensive defenseman with just nine goals and 15 helpers in that span. Muchison, an assistant captain, played in the National Collegiate Hockey Conference Frozen Faceoff this year as the Sun Devils lost to Denver in the opening round. The draft prospect also majored in Sports Business during his time with Arizona State.
Muchison might also give Nick Seeler a run for his money as he blocked 98 shots this season, a record for the university and leading all NCHC skaters in that statistic. Muchison, whose parents are from Eastern Canada (his father Ken played in the East Coast Hockey League while his mom was a figure skater), played roller hockey as a child and from there developed his career. He also played with the U.S. National Under-17 and Under-18 teams in 2019-20 before playing 23 games with the U.S. National Development Team in 2020-21.
He also appears to be far from a wilting flower on the ice, leading his team in penalty minutes in four consecutive seasons from 2021-22 to 2024-25. So, with any luck, the Flyers have added another big, bulky defenseman who could possibly turn into something down the road. If not, he would be a capable farm hand down in the minors.
What’s next for Murchison? While he is certainly destined to stay in the AHL for next season with the current crop of blueliners the Flyers have and the leap to the NCAA to the NHL is astronomical, we could possibly see him sooner rather than later. As it is with players that sign at this time of year for the next season, they do have the option to join the AHL team on an amateur try-out and start playing in the system right away.
The Phantoms currently have Ethan Samson, Hunter McDonald, Helge Grans, Louie Belpedio, and Adam Ginning as the mainstays on their roster — Ben Gleason and Xavier Bernard are the other defensemen — so there might not be a whole lot of room for a newcomer to find some minutes. But, we’ll see what his decision is or if the Flyers want to add more players to the Phantoms right now.
We already know that it is likely that Jett Luchanko and Alex Ciernik are going to report to Allentown to play with the Phantoms for the rest of the season, so will there be an addition on defense as well? We’ll see.
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