The Carolina Hurricanes have signed Ryan Murphy, their first pick in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, Carolina general manager Jim Rutherford announced.

“Ryan is a gifted offensive defenseman,” Rutherford said. “He skates extremely well and is dynamic with the puck. He put up very impressive numbers as a 17 year old in the OHL, and he’s put himself in a position to push for a spot on the NHL level.”

The five-foot-11, 176-pound blueliner finished second in scoring among defensemen in the Ontario Hockey League with 26 goals and 79 points in 63 games. He is the second consecutive Kitchener Ranger to be drafted in the first round by the Carolina Hurricanes after the team selected Jeff Skinner, the NHL’s reigning Calder Trophy winner, in 2010.

Murphy can earn up to $2.5 million over the course of the entry level deal, including a $277,500 signing bonus.

Murphy joins Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Gabriel Landeskog, Adam Larsson, Mika Zibanejad, Jonas Brodin, Duncan Siemens, Sven Bartschi, JT Miller and Marcel Noebels as players from the 2011 draft class to sign.

Aaron Vickers is the managing editor of Future Considerations and can be found on Twitter. For all the latest Future Considerations news and posts, follow FC’s Official Twitter Feed, on YouTube and on Facebook!