1PM: Hartford associate coach Gord Murphy will join the Rangers coaching staff when they return to play, filling the spot left by Lindy Ruff. (Brooks, Friedman)

Murphy is in his first season with Hartford and had been an NHL assistant prior to this season since 2002-03.

Adam Rotter: Murphy makes sense to replace Ruff on a number of levels, but most of all because he’s already part of the organization, knows the system, knows some of the players and has spent the majority of the last 30+ years in the NHL as a player and then an assistant coach. He was hired in Hartford because of his ability to coach and develop defensemen and with so many prospects coming, it will be interesting to see if the Rangers prefer keeping him there or taking the simple route of having him replace Lindy Ruff full-time.