Cory Murphy, new director of player development for the Seattle Kraken, has primary responsibility for monitoring and advancing the team’s prospects. But wisdom Murphy gained from playing and coaching in Europe applies far beyond those on the cusp of a pro career.
In fact, he brought back from Scandinavia a successful formula for keeping more youngsters engaged in youth hockey. Complex? Just the opposite. It can be distilled down to one three-letter word.
Murphy’s European education began during his playing days. He credits six season in Finnish and Swiss leagues for honing skills that got him picked up by the Florida Panthers in 2007. “Less games, more development, more time in the gym,” Murphy explained on The Rinkside podcast. “The size of the ice probably helped me a lot because there’s more skating. I felt like my skating took a step to a level where maybe it wouldn’t have been, if I had played in the American League.”
Following 91 combined games with the Panthers, Lightning and Devils, Murphy returned to Europe. After stops in Switzerland and Russia, he played his final five pro seasons in Sweden. While there, he learned that Swedish youngsters weren’t sticking with the sport long enough to build a strong national team.
Kid Hockey Players Just Want To Have…
“In 2002, (Sweden) had a World Junior experience where their team was just awful. So they had this big summit, a hundred of the top hockey minds in Sweden – referees, GMs, old players, young players. They just said, ‘We need to fix this.’ They came up with these 10 points on changing the development model.
“One of the things is to recruit more kids and keep them in the game longer. We can’t have kids quitting at (age) eight, nine, 10, because it’s not fun, because they don’t like coming to the rink.”
Catch that? A 10-point-plan, sure, but one that starts with that simplest of concepts, all of three letters long: F-U-N.
“That is a major part of their development model, prioritizing fun over winning. In Canada, we put a heavier emphasis on winning the game at a much earlier age than in Sweden and Finland. With that emphasis, our actions are a lot different, whether it’s coaches or parents.
“Under eight or nine, they’re not even allowed to put the score on the board. They’re not allowed to keep stats. They don’t cut kids as early as we do. That comes back to the Swedish idea: if we cut a kid at 10 years old, that kid four-five years from now might be the best kid in this group. But if we cut him and he goes to play soccer, then we’ll never know.”
Parental Pushback
Murphy says North American parents are reluctant to let even young kids start out on reduced-size playing surfaces, which also feature tinier nets and lighter-weight pucks.
“In Sweden, they’ve done research – again, this comes back to how do we keep kids in the game – they studied for a year every puck touch that a kid got on full ice versus on smaller ice.
“(The kids) can actually go and raise the puck and feel like, ‘Hey, I’m scoring top shelf and I’m having fun. This is great!’ And they’re on a small area where they’re getting 20 touches a shift, they’re making all these decisions, they’re smiling and having fun.”
As players get older, Murphy says, the size of their practice surface increases, the nets get a little bigger, and the pucks a little heavier. At every age, maximizing “puck touches” is the objective. “When you have these six-seven year olds on the full ice, the couple of kids that are excellent skaters are going to have the puck most of the time.” For the rest of the skaters, “Not so much fun.”
Hearing these ideas, North American youth coaches and parents will often ask how systems get taught, how skills such as forechecking get taught. Murphy says those aren’t the right questions. “The Swedish-Finnish idea is, it’s more important to develop their critical thinking.”
Many of those same coaches and parents already chafe at prioritizing participation over keeping score, loving the sport over sharpening elite skills. Murphy understands. “I’m competitive, too. I want to win every time, but I think that I would be more willing to sacrifice losing some games if I knew that all those kids were developing and growing their overall games.”
Turning Prospects Into Pros In Seattle
Murphy first joined the Kraken as a player development consultant. “We decided that it was probably time to think about moving back home (from Europe). This opportunity came up, so timing was really good for our situation.” When former director of player development Steve Tambellini became assistant GM in Tampa Bay, Murphy filled the opening. “I always thought that this is something I would like to get into.”
He’ll earn his Kraken paycheck by shepherding draft picks already possessing elite talent. But Murphy won’t ignore those Scandinavian methods for his flock of prospects. “They’re still 18-year-old kids. I think at the end of the day, they should be having fun, too, and put into perspective the games.
“I was coaching for a while at a pro level after I played. One thing I learned – my view from the bench is different than the view from on the ice. That’s when coaching can happen, where you can say, ‘Okay, maybe the next time you’re in that situation, maybe check the weak side first.'”