Insider reveals most likely scenario for the Leafs involving Matt Murray
It is seemingly inevitable that Matt Murray's tenure with the Leafs is over after just one season. Murray played in just 26 games for the Leafs going 14-8-2 and posting a 3.01 GAA and .903 save percentage. Murray missed most of the season with various injuries with the last one being a concussion near the end of the season. Given the play of Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll, and the fact Murray cannot stay healthy, he is very likely the odd man out in Toronto.
Many expected the Leafs to buy Murray out on Friday when the buyout window opened, but it did not make complete sense. The buyout window is open until June 30th, which means the Leafs can first attempt to move Murray before eventually buying him out if they can't find any takers.
Darren Dreger was on TSN 1050's First Up this morning and talked about Murray and the Leafs' two primary options. Dreger essentially nixed the idea of a trade due to the surprisingly strong goalie market this summer. Not only are there some capable goalies in free agency, but there are also a handful available via trade such as John Gibson in Anaheim and Connor Hellebuyck. Murray has 1 year left on his current deal that has a cap hit of $4.687M for the Leafs but is owed $8M in actual salary. The fact that Murray is also owed more cash than his cap it is also a significant hurdle the Leafs will have to deal with, as any team with cap space to take on Murray likely will not want to pay him all that cash unless the Leafs sweeten the trade drastically.
A buyout for Murray would save the Leafs $4M in cap space this season and more than $2M next season when the cap is supposed to jump significantly. In all likelihood, Murray will find himself being bought out before June 30.
| POLL | ||
19 JUIN | 355 ANSWERS Insider reveals most likely scenario for the Leafs involving Matt Murray Would you be okay with the Leafs trading a high draft pick or a good prospect to move Murray's contract? | ||
| Yes | 75 | 21.1 % |
| No | 139 | 39.2 % |
| Just buy him out | 141 | 39.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
