This was a roller coaster season for Ryan Murray. Entering last summer, it wasn’t clear if Murray would even be part of the team in the fall. His name was oft mentioned in trade proposals, most notably for Matt Duchene. Of course, none of these trades materialized and Murray began the season where he left off 2016-17, on the third defensive pairing.
Murray started the season with Gabriel Carlsson before his 2016-17 partner, Markus Nutivaara, returned to the lineup. By late November, that pairing had become the second most-used pair due to the struggles of David Savard and Jack Johnson.