Douglas Murray is a BEAST

[knives of ice]

seriously, i think he has been much better than advertised as far as skating and moving the puck go. he's just an absolute brick wall when hitting as well. being at the games between whistles you can see the other team wants nothing to do with him. when all of our puck movers are back in the lineup his play should standout even more i think. really impressed thus far

[Pens4Life]

:thumb:

seriously, i think he has been much better than advertised as far as skating and moving the puck go. he's just an absolute brick wall when hitting as well. being at the games between whistles you can see the other team wants nothing to do with him. when all of our puck movers are back in the lineup his play should standout even more i think. really impressed thus far

Re-sign him at Niskanen price if possible,deal Nisky for picks.. We really needed that kind of presence in D unit..

[Scott]

:thumb:

seriously, i think he has been much better than advertised as far as skating and moving the puck go. he's just an absolute brick wall when hitting as well. being at the games between whistles you can see the other team wants nothing to do with him. when all of our puck movers are back in the lineup his play should standout even more i think. really impressed thus far

Re-sign him at Niskanen price if possible,deal Nisky for picks.. We really needed that kind of presence in D unit..

We really needed that is right. Especially since Orpik...the player who CAN do that...hardly does.

[midd]

I totally agree about signing Murray. I signed on to say that Murray should be the top priority of the guys we got at the deadline. Guys like Douglas Murray are hard to come by.

[littlemoonboot]

Loved how he destroyed that guy and the rangers were all mad, crowd was going nuts, and he just ambled along after the play like it was an everyday thing, like a beast going back to his cage.

[PghSkins]

Loved how he destroyed that guy and the rangers were all mad, crowd was going nuts, and he just ambled along after the play like it was an everyday thing, like a beast going back to his cage. :lol:

Meh. Soff euro :)

[Eismann]

Douglas Murray stood up next to a mountain. And chopped it down. With the edge of his ha-yand.

[Shakes]

After he told Boyle to calm down with that clean check and then acted like it was nothing, I was like:

[Penspal]

Big clean hit, no one hurt, move on, nothing to see here.

[slappybrown]

Boyle is 6'7", 250 lbs. That was impressive.

[Great58]

:thumb:

seriously, i think he has been much better than advertised as far as skating and moving the puck go. he's just an absolute brick wall when hitting as well. being at the games between whistles you can see the other team wants nothing to do with him. when all of our puck movers are back in the lineup his play should standout even more i think. really impressed thus far

I believe it was the Winnipeg game where I first noticed that the opponents stopped trying to check him as the game wore on, and started to do everything they can to avoid the man. This will be a very good feature in a 7 game series.

[Pitts]

Boyle was running around like a feak, doing what he wanted ... until he met Murray behind the Pen's net. Boyle was quiet after that.

[marek]

Boyle was embarrassed. It was like that scene in tombstone between billy bob Thornton and Kurt Russell.
Slapped him in the face and just about made him cry.

[Luckybreak]

Whilst fairly slow his skating is pretty good for a big man, his anticipation and timing are above average so he positions himself well for hits and blocks. Many of his hits are just shoves but the other guy invariably ends up on his ass. He seems to win 90% of board battles and still manages a safe pass to exit the zone (leaving a pile of crumpled bodies in his wake). Over 7 games this guy is going to leave opposition forwards in need of counselling.

[Pitts]

I watched Murray on one faceoff that took place right in front of me ... the puck dropped and no center really got a good whack at it, so there was some diggng going on for it. Murray came trucking off the boards, right through the middle of the circle swinging his stick and kicking his legs in all directions, wreaking havoc in midst of all those players and I'm pretty sure the Pens then took the puck away. It was just funny to see that! He was knocking things everywhere!

[Henry Hank]

Murray was exactly what they needed on D. Shero came through filling a real need again. I'd love if they could keep him but could be tough with all the other UFAs. The hit on Boyle was perfect retaliation. Not some stupid fight, not a cheap shot, just a nice clean hit putting him on his backside.

[IMFC]

I would pay money to watch Murray play.

[ExPatriatePen]

I loved seeing that hit. Murray is going to have to be careful though. That hit was right on the brink of being a late hit and that left skate came way up off the ice and was dangerously close to Boyles head.

I hope Murray plays within himself and doesn't put us in any difficult penalty situations in big spots during the playoffs.

video.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=236302&catid=-6

[mikey287]

Yeah, my scouting reports on players rarely begin with a trait like this unless it's so noticeable...:

"Extremely strong player, quite possibly the league's strongest..."

viewtopic.php?f=1&t=61177&hilit=Douglas+Murray#p2355803

It looks like we're in agreement on that front. Brian Boyle isn't very strong on his skates, but he is still 6'7"...I couldn't knock anyone over that's 6'7", that's for true...I kinda thought the board would end up liking him. It's a 1970's Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker on a winning Penguins team. If only he could cut the baseball season down by 150 games, I think he'd have a statue next to Mario's...

[Henry Hank]

I definitely thought it was a late hit. Murray seems to be one of those guys that gets the benefit of the doubt with hits. He must have the respect of the refs. Roberts was always able to deal some pretty borderline stuff without being penalized. I don't know if the refs just had a lot of respect for him or were afraid of him themselves.

[Pitt87]

Boyle is 6'7", 250 lbs. That was impressive.

Murray is like a tank. Low center of gravity, has a ton of weight matched with a ton of horsepower, and is built for stability AND contact.

EC players haven't faced him much, but I read at least one player that said that you need an extra day in the whirlpool after you play against him. He goes well out of his way to finish his checks and has a knack for punishing guys just for being around the net without taking a ton of penalties. He goads guys into contact then takes the opportunity to knock them flat. If pancake was an NHL stat, he'd have similar stats to an NFL fullback. Hell, when he has a chance to put his weight into the puck, the puck winces.

He is my type of player. Hoping he is here for a good long time.

[André]

Not a ton of sample size of course but during these last few games Murray is so much better than Orpik it's not even funny.

[tfrizz]

Whilst fairly slow his skating is pretty good for a big man, his anticipation and timing are above average so he positions himself well for hits and blocks. Many of his hits are just shoves but the other guy invariably ends up on his ass. He seems to win 90% of board battles and still manages a safe pass to exit the zone (leaving a pile of crumpled bodies in his wake). Over 7 games this guy is going to leave opposition forwards in need of counselling.

The best thing is that he's a low risk player. He knows he's slow so he doesn't run around looking for hits; he knows he's not great with the puck, so he makes simple plays. It adds some well needed contrast to a group of defensemen that are very slick skaters and move the puck extremely well.

[tfrizz]

Not a ton of sample size of course but during these last few games Murray is so much better than Orpik it's not even funny.

I saw Sharks fans posted comments like "what do you expect, they have Murray on their 2nd pair" after the losses Tuesday & Wednesday. While I agree to that in principle, Murray is not a 2nd pairing defenseman for the Pens. As Letang & Martin heal up and make their way back, Murray and Niskanen will shift from 2nd to 3rd pairing and wow... what a 3rd pairing that could be!

As I think about that, I almost hope they send Despres back to WBS because there's no way he's cracking the lineup in the playoffs aside from injuries. I'd rather see him get some playoff minutes in WBS than watch from the press box.

Orpik-Martin
Eaton-Letang
Murray-Niskanen

Engelland/Bortuzzo

[MRandall25]

I don't get what they mean by "What do you expect, they have him on their 2nd pair".

Were they giving him 1st pairing minutes in SJ?