Matt Murley (born December 17, 1979) is an American former professional ice hockey forward who played with the Pittsburgh Penguins and Phoenix Coyotes in the National Hockey League (NHL). He is currently a Sports betting expert for Barstool Sports' hockey podcast, Spittin' Chiclets and appears on the spin-off podcast Chiclets Game Notes with former teammate Colby Armstrong.

Matt Murley
Murley with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in 2004
Born (1979-12-17) December 17, 1979 (age 44)
Troy, New York, U.S.
Height 5 ft 11 in (180 cm)
Weight 206 lb (93 kg; 14 st 10 lb)
Position Left wing
Shot Left
Played for Pittsburgh Penguins
Phoenix Coyotes
Amur Khabarovsk
HC Lugano
Rapperswil-Jona Lakers
Linköpings HC
Timrå IK
KHL Medveščak Zagreb
HC Slovan Bratislava
Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers
Oji Eagles
Daemyung Killer Whales
NHL draft 51st overall, 1999
Pittsburgh Penguins
Playing career 2002–2022

Playing career

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As a youth, Murley played in the 1993 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Syracuse, New York.[1]

Before his professional career, Murley played college hockey for four seasons at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. He was drafted in the 2nd round (51st overall) by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft, although he did not choose to report to Pittsburgh until 2002. Murley played with the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins of the American Hockey League (AHL) before being called up for the 2003–2004 season.

In 2006, Murley's contract with Pittsburgh terminated and Murley signed as a free-agent with the Colorado Avalanche. After playing a full season with Colorado's then AHL affiliate, Albany River Rats, Murley's one-year deal expired and on July 20, 2007, he signed a one-year contract with the Phoenix Coyotes. After splitting the season between Phoenix and their AHL affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage, Murley signed a one-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes. He was expected to be spending more time near his hometown of Troy as he was expected to join the then-Carolina AHL affiliate Albany River Rats for a second time. As expected, Carolina reassigned Murley to the AHL's Albany River Rats. However, instead of joining Albany, Murley informed the Hurricanes that he was signing with Khabarovsk Amur, of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) in Russia. Murley signed with Khabarovsk on October 9, 2009 and finished his season in the KHL.

On October 6, 2009, Murley signed with Langenthal of the Swiss National League B (NLB) in Switzerland.[2] He has also played for Lugano of the Swiss National League A (NLA) and the Rapperswil-Jona Lakers of the NLA.

On September 1, 2010, Murley signed a two-month contract with the Swedish Elite League (SEL) club Linköpings HC. On October 19, 2010 the tryout contract was terminated. On November 25, 2010, Murley signed a two-month contract with Timrå IK. Murley finished the season with fifteen points in thirty-two games.

On January 20, 2011, Murley signed an extension with Timrå IK that would keep him on the team throughout the 2011-12 Elitserien season. Murley was extended because he was "a player that fits in all situations and because he fit in well with Timrå IK".[3]

On July 9, 2013, Murley signed as a free agent to a contract with the newest member of Kontinental Hockey League, KHL Medveščak Zagreb from Croatia.[4] He joined fellow KHL team HC Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia for the 2014-15 season.

Murley headed to the German top-tier Deutsche Eishockey Liga (DEL) for the 2015-16 season, agreeing to terms with the Nürnberg Ice Tigers.[5] He left Nürnberg in the summer of 2016 and signed with Japanese side Oji Eagles in July 2016.[6] After one season with the Eagles, Murley continued in the Asian League, playing his last two professional seasons with South Korean Incheon-based team Daemyung Killer Whales.[7][8]

After being retired for 2 1/2 years, Murley returned to pro hockey finishing the 2021-22 season for Kovlands Ishockeyförening in the Swedish second division.

Career statistics

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Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM GP G A Pts PIM
1996–97 Syracuse Jr. Crunch MetJHL 48 52 58 110 111
1997–98 Syracuse Jr. Crunch MetJHL 49 56 70 126 203
1998–99 R.P.I. ECAC 36 17 32 49 32
1999–00 R.P.I. ECAC 35 9 29 38 42
2000–01 R.P.I. ECAC 34 24 18 42 34
2001–02 R.P.I. ECAC 32 24 22 46 26
2002–03 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 73 21 37 58 45 6 0 2 2 15
2003–04 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 18 1 1 2 14
2003–04 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 63 10 26 36 69 24 7 6 13 17
2004–05 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins AHL 80 17 24 41 55 11 3 0 3 0
2005–06 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 41 1 5 6 24
2006–07 Albany River Rats AHL 61 23 32 55 18 5 1 5 6 8
2007–08 San Antonio Rampage AHL 76 21 41 62 43 7 2 2 4 0
2007–08 Phoenix Coyotes NHL 3 0 1 1 0
2008–09 Amur Khabarovsk KHL 33 4 4 8 28
2009–10 SC Langenthal NLB 22 8 15 23 18
2009–10 HC Lugano NLA 3 1 1 2 4
2009–10 Rapperswil-Jona Lakers NLA 11 6 6 12 8
2010–11 Linköpings HC SEL 12 3 5 8 0
2010–11 Timrå IK SEL 32 9 6 15 36
2011–12 Timrå IK SEL 55 15 16 31 16
2012–13 Timrå IK SEL 13 5 8 13 22
2013–14 KHL Medveščak Zagreb KHL 52 16 20 36 6 3 1 1 2 2
2014–15 HC Slovan Bratislava KHL 46 11 13 24 75
2015–16 Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers DEL 51 9 16 25 26 12 2 1 3 8
2016–17 Oji Eagles AL 48 19 44 63 30 2 1 1 2 0
2017–18 Daemyung Killer Whales AL 28 13 24 37 16
2018–19 Daemyung Killer Whales AL 31 7 7 14 16 3 0 2 2 0
NHL totals 62 2 7 9 38

Awards and honors

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Award Year
College
All-ECAC Hockey Rookie Team 1998–99
All-ECAC Hockey First Team 2001–02
AHCA East Second-Team All-American 2001–02
ECAC Hockey All-Tournament Team 2002 [9]
AHL
All-Star Game 2004 [10]

References

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  1. ^ "Pee-Wee players who have reached NHL or WHA" (PDF). Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament. 2018. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-03-06. Retrieved 2019-02-09.
  2. ^ "Matt Murley to SC Langenthal Matt Murley zum SC Langenthal" (in German). nationalleague.ch. October 6, 2009. Archived from the original on December 15, 2014. Retrieved June 21, 2011.
  3. ^ Joachim Sandström (January 20, 2011). "Murley klar för ytterligare 1½ säsong" (in Swedish). timraik.se. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved June 21, 2011.
  4. ^ "Willsie and Murley joined to Medvescak" (in Croatian). KHL Medveščak Zagreb. 2013-07-09. Archived from the original on 2013-09-13. Retrieved 2013-07-09.
  5. ^ "Ice Tigers holen Matt Murley nach Nürnberg | Thomas Sabo Ice Tigers Nürnberg". www.icetigers.de. Archived from the original on 2016-07-27. Retrieved 2016-02-14.
  6. ^ "Tidigare SHL-centern klar för japansk klubb – Sillyseasonhockey.se". www.sillyseasonhockey.se. Archived from the original on 2016-07-22. Retrieved 2016-07-22.
  7. ^ "Ex-NHL forward Matt Murley signs with S. Korean club". 2017-07-19.
  8. ^ "Ex-NHL forward Matt Murley signs with Korean club". 2017-07-19.
  9. ^ "All-Tournament Honors" (PDF). ECAC Hockey. Retrieved 2014-05-12.
  10. ^ "Canadian AHL All-Stars 9, PlanetUSA AHL All-Stars 5". American Hockey League. February 9, 2004. Retrieved January 22, 2020.
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