Blackhawks Connor Murphy Doing His Best To Return To Ice From Injury

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Joshua Deeds
April 5, 2024 (6:24 PM)

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The Chicago Blackhawks will have a defenseman on the ice, after a three-month absence, in Connor Murphy.

While has been out due to a groin injury, he finally practiced with the team at Fifth Third Arena. This was after he was only supposed to be out a few weeks with the injury.

Why #Blackhawks' Connor Murphy is pushing to make return from groin injury before season ends https://t.co/YrD5mPSbrq� Blackhawks Talk (@NBCSBlackhawks) April 5, 2024

While Andreas Athanasiou's timetable to return was much quicker, Murphy's groin injury was much more serious, as it has been termed "osteitis pubis" which has kept the Sharks Logan Couture out for the season.

"There were so many times where I would, off the ice, take time off and the pain would good away and I would feel good," Murphy said. "And as soon as I would try to ramp it up with certain exercises, I'd feel pain back again. It was a deceiving thing where I would be home and get really optimistic and feel great, and then as soon as I go to activate and use certain areas of my hips, it would inflame.

"I had a lot of those moments up and down and then finally got to the point where I could stack consistent days in the last little while and have a good routine and process to gain strength and get rest to be able to get to this point."

Thanks to Jaycob Megna, former Shark and teammate of Couture, Murphy was able to put together a game plan to figure out a recovery plan.

Murphy tried multiple methods in order to recover, including a PRP injection, stretching and would unfortunately suffer setbacks in spite of these methods.

Murphy will not be returning to NHL ice this weekend, but he is targeting next week for a return date.

That will entirely be up to medical and coaching staff before it happens.

"Today he graduated even more into almost a full practice compared to Wednesday, so that's good � one more step closer," Blackhawks head coach Luke Richardson said. "He's got some repetition to go now to make sure everything's stable and more contact in practice over the next week or two, and hopefully he gets back in before the end."

Murphy could've recovered fully, entered rehab, and foregone a return to the team this season, but he'd rather re-join the team, despite there being nothing to win.

Murphy, returning to the Blackhawks would help clean up the lengthy injury list that the team has suffered this season. Undoubtedly it seems team chemistry is driving his decision.

"Everyone says you get toward the end and people think it's meaningless games," Murphy said. "But I think as a player, there's always something to play for, even as a teammate just trying to work as hard every day, no matter where you're at health wise, to try and come back and be with the guys and help the guys and just show that you want to be a part of the solution and not just a part of the problem sitting out and not caring, letting guys going through a tough season on their own.

"I always just wanted to get 100 percent whenever that was. And obviously pushing to get in shape to be able to play was very important for me. It'll feel really good to be 100 percent playing games and just feel like you kind of overcame an injury and were able to kind of battle it out, whether it's mentally or physically."