In February of 1993 Blackhawks General Manager Bob Pulford made a trade for former first overall draft pick and (now) Stanley Cup champion Joe Murphy. He was holding out for a contract that his current team, the Edmonton Oilers, were not willing to give him. According to reports, the two sides were only $300,000 apart in their asking prices. Murphy held his ground after scoring 82 points (35G, 47A) during the regular season, and 24 points (8G,16A) in 16 playoff games.
That contract from the Oilers never came for Joe Murphy. In February, Murphy was traded to the Blackhawks for defenseman Igor Kravchuk and forward Dean McAmmond. He immediately signed a three-year deal with the storied Chicago franchise, who were looking to return to the Stanley Cup finals after getting swept by the Penguins there in the previous season.
For a little over three full seasons, Murphy was one of the Blackhawks top point producers. During the remainder of the 1992-93 season he had 17 points in 19 games.
In his first full season with the Blackhawks, Murphy had 70 points (31G, 39A) but had double the amount of penalty minutes he averaged during his career with 111.
The following season Murphy’s production was up over a point a game, with 41 points (23G, 18A) in just 40 games due to a strike shortened season, he also put up 12 points (9G, 3A) in 16 playoff games. He was on a pace for even more than his 111 penalty minutes the season before, with 89 in those 40 regular season games.
In his third full (and final) season with the Blackhawks, Joe’s production dropped to 51 points (22G, 29A) in 70 games. The organization allowed the smooth goal scoring forward to become a free agent in July of 1996, and he moved on to St. Louis.
What few people outside of the tight hockey circles knew was that Murphy was not only acting erratically on the ice, but was acting out of character off the ice and also abusing substances. This behavior began after he took a huge hit by former Detroit player Shawn Burr, while Murphy was still playing with Edmonton.
TSN’s Rick Westhead takes a trip with former NHL Goaltender Trevor Kidd, to Kenora Ontario, to find Murphy and try to offer him some help. The story so unfortunate and ties into the stories of many ex-NHL players struggling to carry on their lives after being subjected to years of traumatic brain injuries.
A very in-depth article written by Oilers Nation writer Robin Brownlee chronicles many other events in Murphy’s career, if you would like to take a trip down memory lane and find out just how Murphy went from successful NHL player to homeless northwestern Ontario occasional handyman.
Take a trip over to the link below to see more about this very serious story:
https://www.tsn.ca/video/tsn-original-finding-murph~1466368