Connor Murphy

So I think I was really fortunate to have that and grateful to have many, many experiences with them.

It's a big difference, and it changes the approach and the process day to day.

I think when you have a young group like that, it's a lot of keying in on developing, and the minutes, even with defensemen, are more spread on giving guys experiences, whether it goes good or bad, to keep pushing, to try to push through those growing pains, where with a team like this, where it's about winning and performing, the minutes are...

are delegated to guys who are playing to help the team win the most and to really push for everyone's best.

So when you have an older group too, everyone's able to, I think, just bring along the leadership and the decor to a higher level and understand what it takes to have winning habits.

So that's something that's learned and experienced through years in the league.

And you can see a lot of these guys that they have it just through what they've been through for so many years here being at such a high stakes level.

No, I'm not.

He came in and showed that at the start of the year this year in Chicago.

I was impressed with him to make that leap.

I think in years in past, he was one of the young guys in Chicago that they were slower to bring up, and I think it was a bit of a strategy to let him develop and get good minutes in the minors before he was able to make the jump.

So him being able to do that now is not a surprise.

That physical ability he has, but the stuff that people don't see is how good of a guy he is off the ice.

He's that goofy young guy that's accepted amongst everyone.

He brings a laugh and a smile to your face every day.

He's true and genuine to himself.

He doesn't try to be anyone different.

I think that's what makes him accepted so quickly.

And then when he plays with his heart in his sleeve and fights and plays for teammates, it makes you like him even more.

So it really speaks volumes when you have a teammate that's really liked like that.