You worry how the NHL lockout might be jacking around the emotions of someone like Ryan Murray.

Then you hear that the Everett Silvertips defenceman, who would likely be playing with the Columbus Blue Jackets right now if Gary Bettman and the players could make nice, punted his Twitter account almost immediately after signing up, figuring it was too much trouble.

Then you hear that he’s a Neil Young fan, to the point that he pulled out his guitar and did a rendition of Young’s 1972 classic Old Man on a Columbus radio station during a promotional tour through town back in July.

Then you hear that he paid for his 71-year-old billet, Parker Fowlds, to come along with him and his family to the NHL draft last June in Pittsburgh.

No, Murray, who leads the Silvertips up against the Vancouver Giants Friday at the Pacific Coliseum (7:30 p.m., Team 1040), is going to be just fine. He’s an all-time old soul. Thinking about it, you wonder if he could solve this rigamarole if they’d let him get involved.

“He is almost too good to be true,” Fowlds said of Murray, who celebrated his 19th birthday Thursday by helping Everett take on the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick, Wash. “He’s not got a big head, nothing like that. He’s calm and cool.

“There’s nothing put on. That’s just the way he is all the time.

“He studies everything. He’s really cautious before he does anything at all.”

For what it’s worth, Murray is a mediocre liar. When asked about how many times he’s been quizzed about the lockout by media types, he first said, “a couple,” and then, after being pressed, admitted it’s become a routine inquiry.

“You guys have a job to do,” he said in that ever-measured tone he has. “I try to be available.”

Murray says that he’s avoiding being focused on what’s going on in both the NHL and the WHL. There is said to be an agreement between the NHL and the CHL that junior players will be available if the season starts late.

He even contends that he’s OK with the bus travel, contending that trips on off-days can be “fun.”

“I’m really focused on playing hockey, no matter where I am,” said Murray, one of five siblings from White City, Sask. “I’m trying to do the best I can. I’m trying to work hard.

“I want to get stronger. I’m working hard in the gym. As the season goes along, I want to get better at getting my shots through from the point. I’m working on my skating, because that’s something you can always fine-tune.

“I’m trying to get on the ice early every day and stay late. I can work on everything.”

The 6-foot-1, 195-pound left-handed-shooting Murray, who came into this season with 20 goals, 84 assists and a plus-41 rating in 168 regular season games with Everett, has drawn comparisons to both Scott Niedermayer and Ray Bourque. Hockey Canada thought enough of him to include him on their men’s world championship team that competed in Finland and Sweden last May. He played in six of the eight games, and saw about eight minutes per game.

He was the second youngest player ever to line up for Team Canada, a few months older than Paul Kariya was in 1993.

“I learned how fast the game is,” he said. “I learned how hard you have to work, and how good you have to be to be dominant at that level.

“I think it really helped me. It’s hard to compare yourself to someone you watch on TV. Watching them first-hand, it’s pretty incredible.”

When Murray does finally leave for Columbus, be it during this season or somewhere down the line, Fowlds will miss him dearly. He’s billeted players since the Silvertips’ inception 10 years ago, and admits that he hasn’t been so keen on some of them.

Murray is different, though the guitar-playing did take some getting used to.

“When he started, he knew one song, a Johnny Cash one, and it was in the same tone all the time,” Fowlds said, chuckling all the while. “He’s getting better all the time.”

sewen@theprovince.com

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