2025 Draft Eligible
C/LW - #9 U.S. National U18 Team (NTDP)
6-foot-1, 198 pounds, Shoots: L
DOB: 8.22.2007
Jack Murtagh is one of the United States National Team Development Program’s best offensive dynamos this season. His combination of hard-nosed drive and strong puck skills with his dangerous shot have prompted his steep climb in public draft rankings this season. Murtagh entered his draft year following a relatively unimpressive season with the Under-17 team with some hype surrounding his name, particularly for his ability, despite being a depth player, to catch your eye when watching other NTDP prospects as I outlined in our Summer of 25′ – Introducing USA piece.
This season Jack Murtagh has moved up to the first line of the Under-18 team, where he recorded 22 goals and 31 assists in 56 games. At the World U18’s Murtagh’s line played a secondary scoring role, he still managed to post six points in seven games.
It’s important to note, as one of the youngest players in the entire draft, the late-August-born forward has a whole year of development ahead of him compared to some of his older peers. Take Malcolm Spence, who is typically ranked close around the same range, for example, is exactly 11 months older than Murtagh. Although similar in current skill and projection, age in class is an all-too-often overlooked aspect of prospects’ development and is particularly important for evaluating Murtagh.
With his top-of-class shot, play-driving upside, strong puck protection, and competitive edge in addition to his age, it’s easy to see the appeal with Murtagh. On public lists, he typically ranks between 25th and 40th, with two outliers at 59th and 70th. Here at McKeen’s, we have the East Greenbush, NY native ranked 26th in our Final Draft Rankings. While concerns surrounding his off-puck involvement and degree of offensive upside are evident, his potential is undeniable. He projects as a middle six scorer in the NHL with a nice competitive bite to his game and the potential to fill a top six role.
Skating
Jack Murtagh’s skating isn’t one of his standout traits, but it certainly contributes to his offensive output and scoring ability. He scores mediocre in most subsets of skating, but there’s potential for growth with his strong foundation. For example, he controls his speed well with the puck on his stick and creates opportunities for his teammates, but he does struggle to remain a threat off the puck unless the prospect of a pass is imminent. He displays a decent top speed as well and although he takes some time to get to that speed, he drives through his legs, using powerful crossovers to lean into his momentum and good body positioning to protect the puck as he moves. His agility isn’t his strongest quality which leads to him getting knocked over and/or stripped of the puck but he does show flashes of solid edgework once he’s moving. The biggest knock on his skating isn’t about form or abilities, it’s his lack of skating. He struggles significantly with lack of dynamism and appears lackadaisical. His stagnant presence in the defensive zone can cost his team takeaway opportunities and give his opponents additional time and space. Overall, there’s lots to like about his skating and where it could go in the future. If he can continue to build on the strengths in his power and puck protection and work on the engagement issues defensively and ability to take off at any moment, he could expand his upside as a higher-end skater of this draft class. Currently, Murtagh’s skating projects similarly to Josh Anderson, his fast powerful strides make for strong, yet infrequent breaks up ice. But he’ll need to use his speed more during the game to remain engaged in the play.
Off the bat, Murtagh is slipping the puck under a defenseman’s stick and using his forearm and strong crossovers to protect the puck as he burns behind the net. As he regains control after a miscommunication with his teammate, he flashes a hard cutback to evade pressure and makes a pass which leads to a goal in tight.
As the puck exits the zone here, Murtagh and his teammate streak up ice. His stride looks a bit sloppy here as he attempts to control his speed and time the play but the power in his legs is still evident and he ends up timing it perfectly with the pass right on his stick for an easy goal.
It’s important to note that this clip came from earlier in the season than the previous two. Even then, it’s easy to see even with his then-imperfect stride he was still able to create separation via his powerful strides. This allowed him to then slow down in the slot to pump fake and take his shot, scoring five-hole.
Grade: 52.5
Shooting
Murtagh’s impressive shot and goal-scoring accolades still have yet to see eye-to-eye, but there’s so much to like here. Nearly everything about his shot grades highly, he has a quick powerful release and can score off a snap, wrist, or slap shot. He led the NTDP in expected goals (xG), on-ice team expected goals (xGF), shot attempts, and shots on goal. This season, however, Murtagh was still just fourtth on the team in goals. The root cause stems from the fact that the shots he gets off the majority of the time are not his premier 30-goal-scorer-esque type of shots. He has issues with getting his best shots off under pressure and thus a large portion of his goals weren’t his best shots, but rather tip-ins and rebounds. As he continues to develop his offensive positioning and ability to create time and space for himself, the opportunities to use his lethal shot will come. The projection for Murtagh’s shot in the NHL remains high even if the rest of his game isn’t fully flushed out. He projects as a depth scoring option with the potential to eclipse 20 goals multiple times in his career and potentially pass the 30 mark.
Murtagh was given too much time and space to prepare for his shot here and he punished the Chicago Steel for their mistake with his top-of-class shot, combining power, accuracy, and a quick release to fire it past their goaltender.
Although he fails to make correct contact with the puck and misses an opportunity to put full power into this shot, Murtagh is still able to accurately find a hole in the goalie’s positioning to put the puck in the back of the net.
This isn’t a particularly dangerous shot, but it does show how Murtagh can put pucks on the net in meaningful and offensively conducive ways without taking a powerful shot aiming to score.
Grade: 57.5
Skills
Murtagh has the technical skillset of a top prospect in nearly every facet. He has a soft touch and slippery hands which help him create odd-man rushes and control the pace on the power play. While his dekes frequently impress, he can get stripped when he attacks crowded areas. His overconfidence in tight is the most direct source of his lack of success, his deke success rate is the fourth worst on the NTDP. His play-driving could also use some work as fellow draft-eligible Cole McKinney is the primary playdriver on the Gallant - McKinney - Murtagh line. Murtagh still supplies a large portion of the offense seen from the NTDP through his fast breaks and quick touches, but this was a notably lacking class. When he’s engaged defensively his length reach and shot-blocking capabilities shine. Additionally, he has a knack for pressuring unprepared defensemen on the point and coming away with the puck on a breakaway or odd-man rush. Sometimes, still, he overestimates his reach and is caught flat-footed reaching for pucks that he should be skating towards. It should be noted that he ranked first on the NTDP in Corsi%, a stat which represents the % of shot attempts that occurred when a player was on the ice that was from that player’s team. This indicates Murtagh seldom faced scoring chances against, so his defensive capabilities weren’t fully put to the test. At the same time, this speaks in part to Murtagh’s offensive prowess and ability to keep the puck in the offensive zone. Murtagh’s raw talents project nicely into a middle six, or even top six winger in the NHL, but there still remains an argument that he could have dominated and driven more play offensively this season.
Murtagh walks from the point into pressure with the puck which he easily evades with effective body positioning and he passes it to his defenseman. He slips free of any defender’s gaze and cuts into the slot to tip in a pass fed by his far-side defenseman. Even though this was a powerplay it displays how effective Murtagh can be when he’s driving the play with his smart offensive instincts.
Murtagh catches a drop pass and quickly offers a soft touch to an entering teammate. He remains a scoring threat and drives the net putting the rebound back on goal which a teammate buries in the ensuing seconds.
Murtagh touches up for the delayed offside on the far side of the ice as his teammate begins entering the zone again. Driving up ice past his man Murtagh becomes an option and is able to thread the puck right onto the tape of his teammate for an easy goal.
Here he makes himself an active threat on the powerplay and positions his body for a shot but instead makes a cross-ice pass to a teammate for an easy goal. With his attention to detail in this clip, he backs up to create space for what could be a shot and drops his knee as he makes the pace to sell all defenders and the goalie on his shot. Still, he could use some work with keeping his eyes on the net to make the pass less telegraphed.
After a poor breakout pass is interrupted by his teammate, Murtagh anticipates the play and curls back to the crease to beat the goaltender 1-on1 with his flashy hands.
In this play, we see Murtagh’s active stick as he uses his long reach to poke the puck from the German puck carrier. While this was an effective play he could also have moved his feet a bit more to increase his chances of landing that poke in other similar situations. Murtagh displays some post-whistle bite as he dumps an opponent over the boards and into his bench.
Grade: 55
Smarts
Unlike most prospects, on-puck decision-making isn’t Murtagh’s biggest issue in the smarts category. Murtagh’s off-puck positioning and involvement remain one of his biggest flaws. Often only finds space for himself when it can lead to a scoring chance and not when his teammates require support and places to move the puck. With the puck, he finds passing lanes well, but can occasionally struggle with turnovers under pressure. He ranks 8th in “passes” and similarly 8th in “accurate passes” on the NTDP. Defensively, his positioning, but more so his lack of movement, is a significant area for improvement. He’s often not pressuring any player in particular and doesn’t activate enough to engage his man when they do receive the puck. There’s lots to like in Murtagh’s understanding of the game with the puck, but he needs to be more aware of his teammates’ needs so that he can support in a depth role if needed in the NHL.
Murtagh breaks up ice with a stretch pass from his defenseman, chipping it off the boards and around the University of Michigan defenseman. He reads the play well at the blue line seeing his teammate Richard Gallant entering with him. When Gallant’s defenseman slides to cover Murtagh, he avoids contact and dishes the puck to his wide-open teammate for a goal.
Off the faceoff, Murtagh slides low to be an option for his left-side defenseman Donato Bracco along the wall and as Bracco moves the puck Murtagh steps into open space to become an option. Being a scoring threat he attacks towards the net, defenders slide to cover him and both his teammates pop out into open ice in the slot. He makes the pass under the stick of the poking defenseman and the puck ends up in the back of the net.
As his team breaks the puck out Murtagh exits the zone and makes a beautiful pass to split both backchecking defenseman and find teammate Richard Gallant. Although Murtagh and his teammate L.J. Mooney start at the same spot following his pass, Murtagh kicks back and watches his pass while Mooney drives in to support in case of a rebound. Luckily Gallant scores on this play, but had there been a rebound, Murtagh’s lackadaisical disengagement from the play wouldn’t have gotten him to the net in time to be an active threat or supporting player.
Grade: 55
Physicality & Compete
Despite an above-average frame, Murtagh grades poorly in both compete and physicality for different reasons. In terms of physicality, he hits opponents at a decent rate but his checking technique is not great for his weight and size. He hits through his hands rather than his body and it disengages his stick from the play. He also tends to hit at inopportune or dangerous times, frequently causing a penalty in the process. On the receiving end, he’s able to tank hits reasonably well but can take more time than anticipated to recover. As for his compete, he is a tenacious player, especially with the game on the line or tensions high. With that said, Murtagh’s effort level throughout games is by far his greatest area of improvement. When he’s engaged and competing, he’s a top 20 prospect in the draft class. When he doesn’t have the puck on his stick and he’s puck-watching, he’s a non-factor. He needs to be more consistent from an effort standpoint and needs to improve his hitting form to be an effective body checker in the NHL. There are serious question marks about whether or not he’ll compete consistently enough to land an NHL role in the future, but if he can gain consistency in his effort, he’s certainly a player to watch out for.
Murtagh, #9 in white in this clip, shows off some of the bite to his game here. He tracks the puck on the breakout and crosses sides to assert himself onto the puck carrier. His hands do however get a bit high and he ends up hitting through his forearms. His team ends up collecting the puck and breaking out. The brief moment where Murtagh removes himself from the play in the seconds following initial contact could be shortened or removed altogether while doing the same damage to the puck carrier if he improves his technique.
Again, Murtagh is tracking the breakout and crossing the ice to make contact. His form here is much better but his approach was off and he required a few extra strides in tight to make contact with the puck carrier. The result of the hit was an injury and based on the nature of the hit there are arguments for a call or even a suspension, something you’d prefer to avoid in the NHL and keep him from developing a habit of.
This play starts with a defenseman playing very tightly on Murtagh, left side of the ice and he does an excellent job taking advantage of that. As the puck gets rimmed around Murtagh takes the inside lane and executes a reverse hit with correct form and it results in an offensive chance for the NTDP. This type of physicality from Murtagh is why there’s still some upside for him as a physical presence in the NHL.
Here Murtagh is the sole forechecker against Latvia. He pressures the first opponent well and he’s rewarded with an opportunity for a hit. However, his technique is undisciplined as he hits through his hands into their upper back. As a result, the opponent was able to make a pass while Murtagh was left overextended in the play giving Latvia a chance for an odd-man rush up ice.
I felt it was important to include a clip of Murtagh’s hitting against the higher-level competition in the NCAA where they are better prepared and more effective at receiving hits and coming out unscathed. Murtagh starts the faceoff on the right wing for this clip, and the puck is dumped in by his left defenseman and ends up on his side. He goes to hit the defender through his hands and not only doesn’t take them down but loses his stick in the process. This demonstrates how ineffective techniques that might get you by in junior hockey, will not continue to work against higher-level opponents.
Grade: 50