The lack of team success Murphy has experienced during his NHL career certainly bothers him, but he tries to focus more on being grateful for his ample opportunity and fair treatment.

ANAHEIM, Calif. — If Seth Jones has a right to be fed up with losing, fellow Blackhawks veteran defenseman Connor Murphy certainly does, too.

Jones has endured four undeniably brutal years of Hawks hockey, but Murphy has slogged through eight — and before that, four years of Coyotes irrelevance to begin his NHL career. He has yet to really make the playoffs, with his only official appearance coming in the 2020 bubble when the Hawks were the No. 12 seed.

On one hand, that bothers Murphy — how could it not? On the other hand, he’s not about to plan a pity party for himself, nor push to get traded to a playoff-bound team.

“It sucks being in the bottom of the standings each year, the last however many years,” Murphy said Thursday. “I try to look at the other side of it being a good test. Knowing if you can keep yourself strong and play well through hard times, then when times get good, it’ll just go smoother. It’s always a test. [You need to] have trust that things will work out in the end.”

That’s a reassuring mantra, but it’s not guaranteed to be true. He’ll turn 32 next month, signifying he’s well into the latter half of his playing career, without having experienced any good times. So is he just extraordinarily patient?

“You can always compare [yourself] and feel bad for yourself, but that’s just part of the game,” Murphy said. “There’s a lot of players in harder situations. I’ve been blessed, big-time, and given a ton of opportunity. I’ve been treated really fairly and very well over my career. Who’s to say that would’ve happened if I was on a top team in the league? There’s always positives to take.

“I can’t be too picky, can’t complain or can’t have any sour taste because, personally, I’ve been treated well by staff, by fans and by the community in Chicago. I’m just grateful for that treatment.”

It must be noted that the comparisons to Jones were in no way suggested by Murphy, and that Murphy enduring even more losing than Jones shouldn’t invalidate Jones’ justifiable frustration.

They have very different personalities, for one thing, and plenty of other NHL players on the impatient end of the spectrum would’ve sought to exit this deep rebuild long before Jones did.

Murphy and Jones had a short conversation after, not before, Jones first told the Sun-Times on Feb. 19 about his interest in a trade. Murphy said they’ve become good friends and he wants Jones to “be happy with whatever happens.”

Coincidentally, Murphy has been lightly mentioned in trade rumors in recent weeks, too. This year’s heightened demand for right-handed defensemen and relative lack of selling teams could create a market for him.

And with so many defensive prospects climbing the Hawks’ developmental ladder, it might make sense to open his second/third-pairing spot. (It would make less sense to open Jones’ first-pairing spot this soon).

Murphy’s recurring groin injury will likely give buyers pause, but he said he’s more optimistic it won’t affect him the rest of the season after undergoing more treatment and strength training during the 4 Nations break.

So it’s conceivable, albeit unlikely, that Murphy could be traded and Jones not before the deadline Friday. That would be an ironic outcome, considering Murphy — who has one year left on his contract at $4.4 million — insists he would prefer to stay while Jones makes his opposite preference increasingly obvious.

“There’s so many players — good players — we’ve had here over the years that have been traded,” Murphy said. “The last few years, I’ve always had my mind prepared that it could happen. You guard yourself emotionally when you, in the back of your mind, know it’s a possibility.”