Italics edited in after clarification of Ryan Murphy’s waiver status from @MrWorkRate (Tom Edwards) on Twitter.

Whenever digging deep into the legalese of the NHL/CBA there is risk of missing some loophole or detail and being wrong.  Someone please holler if I missed something here that gives Murphy a safe path back to the AHL in 2015-16.

So sure enough I am a year early.  The clip level for Murphy as a 22-year old who signed at age 18 is 160 games (not the 80 I originally used).  This pushes this issue to at least the tail end of the 2015-16 or possibly to next season if he spends part of the season in the AHL.

Yesterday I posted a Carolina Hurricanes blog that detailed how the legalese of the NHL and contracts could dictate if/how long Haydn Fleury remains with the Carolina Hurricanes to start the 2015-16 season.  You can read that HERE.

Here is hoping I got the Haydn Fleury stuff right.

Ryan Murphy’s NHL CBA legalese could even more fix how his training camp ends up.  As a 22-year old with 89 games of NHL experience, he is no longer waiver exempt.  Basically, what that means is if the Hurricanes try to return him to Charlotte, any/all NHL teams get the opportunity to claim him off waivers at no cost.  Basically, they would just need to agree to take on his contract which is an inexpensive entry-level deal that is 2-way giving them an out if they try him and decide he is not good enough for their NHL roster.

The upshot is this – Ryan Murphy will either stay at the NHL level for the Hurricanes or (unlikely), he will be traded.  As a young skating defenseman with high upside and some NHL experience, there is no way Ron Francis will risk him to waivers.

I recently posted a Carolina Hurricanes blog that suggested Murphy could earn more ice time at either extreme of playing very well (such that he legitimately earns a spot in the top 6 on D) or by playing very poorly such that Ron Francis looks to showcase him, prop him up a bit and then collect the best trade return he can for Murphy while also clearing space on the blue line for the pack of kids who all in all have had a very good training camp.

I continue to like the idea of pushing forward with Ryan Murphy.  It is not clear that he will become a top 4, but I think he could be a very good #5 or #6 who ranks much higher than that in terms of generating offense and pushing pace when you need it to jumpstart the offense or gamble a little bit down in the third period.

Regardless, it seems to be NHL or bust for Ryan Murphy for the 2015-16 season.

Even with contract issues to the side, I still think it could be a make or break season for Murphy at least as a Hurricane.  The young D prospects overall had a solid summer which pushes Murphy to either seize a roster spot fairly quickly or risk getting passed by the youth below him.

Go Canes!