Matt Murray

It gets more complicated when the return and retention offered to Buffalo at the draft exceeds what Toronto received. The Leafs don't have a bargain goaltender, ...

Whatever the Leafs do next, they’ve at least started addressing goaltending and in a manner that suits the wants of the team over what is popular with fans. Look at how much Frederik Andersen immediately began to struggle under Keefe compared to how he did under Babcock. The system the team plays in front of the goaltender needs to be a fit and it is very likely that Murray and Keefe are in synch. Murray thrived under the run and gun Penguins to start his career and his struggles kicked in primarily as he transitioned to the slower, less skilled approach of the Sens. Certainly it’s worth considering there is a match. That due diligence still doesn’t guarantee health and that’s why Toronto still has some work to do in net. Matt Murray isn’t going to require the term of either of them and definitely not the cap hit of Kuemper, so this could end up looking like a bargain. Until word of Murray to Toronto became a thing and there was a need to justify his numbers, there probably weren’t too many Leafs fans that viewed Matt as their first choice for manning the net this season. Jon Elkin, the Leafs goaltending and development evaluator has worked with Matt Murray his entire life. You don’t need to like it, but the good news is that if healthy, Matt Murray seemingly offers a lot more than Jack Campbell did. If my analysis doesn’t cut it for you, here are the numbers for Murray vs. The Leafs don’t have a bargain goaltender, no matter who your guy was, Murray isn’t it, and it all feels very reactionary to a goaltending market that has caved in over the past couple of days. For starters, Matt Murray has been injury prone and struggled since his final year in Pittsburgh leading to some truly unfortunate time in Ottawa, especially if you primarily looking at his save percentage as the best measure of success for him. The Matt Murray trade was doomed to poor reviews from the very beginning.

Monday's move by Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas to trade for veteran NHL goalie Matt Murray is a bold one as Toronto looks toto finally get over its ...

"Just being able to put on that jersey for the first time I think is going to be something really special. "Toronto is a great place to do it. "There's so many great players on this team," Murray said. "He knows me well, he knows my game well, knows how to push me," Murray said of Elkin. "I think he can provide a lot of insight in all those regards." He'll be working in Toronto with new goalie coach Curtis Sanford and Jon Elkin, who's the Leafs' head of development at the position and has a long history with Murray dating back to the latter's childhood at his hockey school. "There's no hard feelings," Murray said of how things went in Ottawa. "But I'm focusing on the present and the near future. He instead rebounded with a 5-4-2 record, a .941 save percentage and a shutout in 11 games over a six-week stretch after rejoining the big club in January before a couple of bad outings and a neck injury ended his season in March. A low point came in November when he was placed on waivers, went unclaimed by the NHL's other 31 teams, and was demoted to the American Hockey League. The Thunder Bay, Ont., native owns a 29-21 playoff record, including Cup wins with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017, to go along with a .921 save percentage, 2.18 GAA and six shutouts. The 28-year-old is intent on showing that Dubas, who along with Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe had Murray in junior with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds a decade ago, was right to take the plunge. "I have a lot to prove." The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired the goaltender — a player looking for a return to form that helped him twice win the Stanley Cup early in his career — from the Ottawa Senators on Monday along with two draft picks in exchange for future considerations.

That's not to say Murray is incapable of producing – we've seen him post fantastic seasons behind better hockey teams, notably in 2016-17 (92.3 per cent stop ...

Ottawa not only retained salary, but also gave the Maple Leafs a pair of draft picks to take on the final two seasons of his contract. Murray was also much more likely to lose games for his team, whereas Campbell had plenty of performances where he stole the show. Ottawa not only retained salary, but also gave the Maple Leafs a pair of draft picks to take on the final two seasons of his contract. On paper, the deal is as low risk as it gets for Toronto – there’s hardly any serious investment in Murray, and if he bombs out, it’s not something that will hang over the organization long-term. That’s not to say Murray is incapable of producing – we’ve seen him post fantastic seasons behind better hockey teams, notably in 2016-17 (92.3 per cent stop rate) and 2018-19 (91.9 per cent stop rate) with the Pittsburgh Penguins. But those seasons seem like eons ago. On paper, the deal is as low risk as it gets for Leafs. But it's still a huge gamble.

Matt Murray was at home in Ottawa on Tuesday, fielding calls and text messages from his new hockey club. He and his wife Christina had already begun to ...

“It taught me a lot of lessons I can apply here.” Murray travelled to Toronto last week and passed his medical examination. “There are so many great players on this team, and they have had so much success these last few years.” Toronto is the place I want to be. Ottawa will retain 25 per cent of Murray’s salary – US$6.25-million a year for two years – as part of the deal. From the reaction on Monday, you’d think that Dubas just about set the franchise on fire. Murray comes with a pedigree earned by capturing Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins in his first two seasons. Murray has been good enough at times to displace Marc-Andre Fleury as the Penguins’ No. 1 goaltender. That they did it two days before Jack Campbell becomes an unrestricted free agent almost makes it look like a last-minute pre-emptive strike to tamp down the disappointment of not re-signing a 2022 all-star. That doesn’t seem like too high of a measuring stick until you realize it hasn’t been done here since 2004. Without him, though, the Maple Leafs have more holes in the crease than Vladimir Guerrero’s first baseman’s mitt. He has won two Stanley Cups, so there is that.