Jordan Murray, a 2006-born forward from Fairbanks, AK is familiar with the Emerald City. Murray toiled for the Totems during the ’22-’23 season. During that season, Murray showed a lot of promise for a rookie, scoring 17 times and adding 21 assists in the 42 regular season games he played. In the playoffs that season, Murray had an impressive 3 goals and 2 assists in just 6 games. After a year of heading back to 18AAA for a year, Murray returned to the USPHL, this time for the Connecticut Junior Rangers and Head Coach, Mike Stanaway. In 15 games thus far in the ’24-’25 campaign with the Blueshirts, Murray scored 3 times to go with 8 assists. 

When Murray left the team for the 0-21-1 Yellowstone Quake of the NA3HL for reason unknown, CT Head Coach, Mike Stanaway, reached out to long time acquaintances, Michael Murphy and Coach Butters of the Totems. “There really isn’t much that surprises me anymore when it comes to why players do what they do. In many cases it usually comes down to two things. They either get really bad advice or they haven’t been told the truth about where they are at in the game,” said Butters. Coach Stanaway and I have known each other for years and I have a ton of respect for him. When he called to see if we might be able to get a player like Murray back on track, I listened, and we came up with a deal.”

Butters added that today's players have a tougher time navigating the game compared to how it was just a few years ago. “It’s tough for players today. There are so many people in the game that fill these guys full of hot air and false hopes. Sadly, these young men don’t know who to trust. Players like Jordan Murray just need to go out and play. If they are good enough, teams at the higher level will find them. There isn’t a place they can hide. There’s video, there’s reports and there is a community of coaches and scout who all talk. Sure, they need people, like coaches, in their corner to make those calls, but they don’t know which coaches truly do have the connections to help players and ones that don’t. The good ones at this level try to get their players up to the next level."

In acquiring the league playing rights to Murray, the Totems parted ways with the playing rights to Kananga Mangala. Although signing a Standard Player Agreement with the Totems this summer, Mangala opted to go to the VIJHL on Vancouver Island. “I just mentioned players listening to wrong people. Here’s another prime example. While the VIJHL is a good league, it is a million miles from the recruiting paths of many NCAA and ACHA schools.” Perhaps a move out east for a proven coach may be the news that young man needs. Sometimes players fail to see Seattle as the right place for them. This is the case here. If the young man doesn’t want to play here then we will look to move him to help our hockey club. Either way, I am happy to close the page in that chapter."

When pressed to see how viable it will be to have Murray report soon, Totems GM, Michael Murphy said it will likely come down to Murray weighing his options. “Jordan was a good, young prospect when he played for us a couple of years ago. He has grown up and so have we. He has now seen a taste of what the landscape is like out there. We treated him well here and he got to develop as we weren’t that deep back then. Since then, we’ve bolster our lineup and brought in a coach with a proven track record at every level, including the NHL. We have a lot more to offer players than we did back then.” Murphy added, "I know one thing, either Murray comes in here and proves he belongs at the next level and Coach Butters uses his connections to insure he gets a look or he still isn’t ready and Coach Butters makes sure he adds the parts of his game needed to insure he gets there."

While there is no timeline on this transaction, Coach Butters thinks a decision would be made soon. “It’s quite simple, really. We made this deal because we think we can help both Jordan and our team at the same time. We have plenty of roster spots and as much as we would love him to report before the college showcase, we can wait. If a Tier 2 team in the NCDC wants to give him a shot, we would insure that we assist in that. If he reports, I’ll work hard to get him that shot if he deserves it. Either he sees this or as a great opportunity or he doesn’t. Given everything we have here and out track record of moving players up over the last two years, I would be hard pressed to see why he wouldn't."

The Totems had the Thanksgiving weekend off and look forward to their next game, which is Sunday, December 8th in Bellingham vs. the Blazers.