A look at how the Leafs can rid themselves of Matt Murray's contract without trading him
On July 11 last summer, Kyle Dubas acquired Matt Murray, a 2023 third round pick and 2024 seventh round pick from Ottawa for future considerations. A key aspect of the trade was that the Senators would retain 25% of Murray's remaining contract. That brought his cap hit down to $4.6875M per season for this past season and the upcoming 2023-24 season.
Murray was brought in for his previous Stanley Cup pedigree and the hope that with the right medical team and revamp Leaf goalie department, that he could regain that form. Unfortunately for Murray and the Leafs, things did not go as planned as he missed 3 months of the season and the entire playoffs (albeit he backed-up two games) with various injuries. Murray played in just 26 games for the Leafs where he posted a 3.01GAA and sub-par .903 save percentage. With the emergence of Ilya Samsonov, who took the reigns of the Leafs' starting job and did very well and Joseph Woll's performance in his limited action, Murray appears to be the odd man out next season.
The question is, how do the Leafs move on from Murray's contract. While trade would be preferred, it will cost the Leafs one hell of a sweetener to get a team to take on a contract where the cap hit is less than the dollar amount owed. Murray is owed $6M in cash next season and with a cap hit of $4.6875M, teams looking to hit the cap floor are likely out. That limits the available trading partners significantly and given Murray's injury history, the cost to rid themselves of Murray could be far too much to consider. Frank Seravalli reported a few weeks ago that he believes the Leafs will try to send Murray to "Robidas Island" and place him on LTIR next season, but with the number roster spots they have to fill, that is unlikely as they would rather have a clear picture of cap space available to them when free agency begins.
That brings us to the most logical option, a buyout. Buying out Murray's final season would save the Leafs $4M in cap space this season as it would only count as $687,500 against the cap. Given that the cap is only expected to increase by $1M, that $4M would go a long way to keeping some of their trade deadline acquisitions. Additionally, the following season, Murray would only be on the books for $2M. While it would be nice to not have him on the books at all when his contract expires at the end of next season, the $2M cap hit will be easier to absorb as there is supposed to be a massive spike in the salary cap for the 2024-25 season, which coincidentally is the same season that Auston Matthews' extension would kick in.
| POLL | ||
MAI 17 | 748 ANSWERS A look at how the Leafs can rid themselves of Matt Murray's contract without trading him What will the Leafs do with Matt Murray this summer? | ||
| Buy him out | 311 | 41.6 % |
| Trade him | 181 | 24.2 % |
| Send him to Robidas Island (LTIR retirement) | 256 | 34.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
