Despite popular opinion, no, Matt Murray is not cheating
When the Leafs traded for goaltender Matt Murray, fans from other markets around the league laughed and I'm sure many in Leafs Nation had their doubts. The two-time Stanley Cup champion had been through a couple of rough seasons dealing with the passing of his father and multiple injuries. They laughed harder when Murray suffered a groin injury after just one start. No one is laughing now. 10 wins and a .916sv% on the season. Matt Murray is back. How has he done this? Well, if you ask other fanbases: cheating, that's how.
Murray has been accused of the most heinous crime in all of hockey. Knocking the net off its pegs. Never before has a goaltender knocked a net off during play in the NHL. In fact, Murray must have near superhuman strength to knock nets off so easily, maybe he's on steroids as well? There's obviously a conspiracy afoot. And now the NHL is investigating. If Murray is found guilty, he could face a massive fine, up to $5,000 even! (Please note the metric ton of sarcasm)
Murray isn't doing anything wrong in this clip. He's showing the referee that the nets haven't been properly pegged. If the nets are drilled in properly in the first place, they are extremely difficult to simply push off without lifting them up first. Most of the issues we are seeing with nets coming off is down to ice crews not doing a good enough job of it. Murray is far from being the only goalie who this is happening to, but because of certain media outlets and a couple of fanbases who can't accept losing to the Leafs, he is now under a microscope.
I've seen Murray knock the net off with three specific movements, colliding with it, kicking off the post and leaning against it. All 3 are legitimate movements that goalies need to be able to make. Colliding with the post is just part of being a goalie. You get across, you make the save. Whatever happens afterwards happens.
As for kicking off of it, goalies need to use their posts to move across the net. Modern pads are built with incredible new materials that produce next to no friction on the ice. It's great for sliding across in a hurry, but it makes changing directions impossible without help. This leaves a goalie with 2 options; they can lift one leg and push with their skate, sacrificing their seal along the ice, or they can push off using the post. If the post is anchored correctly, this isn't an issue, the post holds and the goalie goes flying across the crease to make a spectacular save.
Leaning against the post is also an extremely common and necessary thing. On sharp angle shots, getting scored on short side is the worst thing a goalie can do. There cannot be a gap between the goaltender and the post. They HAVE to lean on it. Again, if it's pegged properly, it isn't an issue. If it's not, then the net comes off, the goalie stumbles and it often looks like they've shoved it off.
I think we can all agree that the current peg system isn't working. There is a delicate balance between keeping the nets on the pegs and them becoming dangerous to players. A new system is obviously needed, one that allows goaltenders to play their position and keeps players safe. In any case the accusations of cheating against Murray are patently false. He plays an aggressive style, he battles in his crease, and once in a while, the net either gets in his way or fails him. The blame lays squarely on the league's faulty peg system and the ice crews who install them. If the league is looking closely at Murray, they're not trying to find the problem - they're trying to find a scapegoat.
| POLL | ||
10 JANVIER | 279 ANSWERS Despite popular opinion, no, Matt Murray is not cheating Is Murray cheating? | ||
| No, definitely not | 76 | 27.2 % |
| Maybe a little | 100 | 35.8 % |
| Throw him in jail | 19 | 6.8 % |
| Why is this even a topic? | 84 | 30.1 % |
| List of polls | ||
