Leafs land a goalie; Murray en route to Toronto with salary retained
The Leafs finally have their goalie folks. We can debate whether or not it was a good move or a bad move once we see how things unfold during the season, but for better or worse, the Leafs have hitched their wagon to 28-year-old Matt Murray.
After a week of speculation and intense rumours the past few days the Leafs officially announced they have acquired Murray along with a 2023 third round pick and 2024 seventh round pick from Ottawa for future considerations. Ottawa will also retain 25% of Murray's $6.25M salary in each of the next 2 years meaning the Leafs will pay Murray $4.68M each season.
The trade all but ends Jack Campbell's time in Toronto, but with his reported salary ask being north of $5M on a long term deal, it would've been tough for the Leafs to make it work for a goalie with limited time as a starter. In Murray, the Leafs get a two-time cup champion who has a career .921 save percentage in the playoffs and put up a .906 save percentage with Ottawa in 20 games last season. Over the course of his seven-year NHL career, posting a record of 132-78-22 with a 2.77 goals-against average, a .911 save percentage and 14 shutouts.
The Leafs are very familiar with Murray, as he was the goaltender for the Soo Greyhounds when Kyle Dubas was GM and Sheldon Keefe was the coach. Additionally, Jon Elkin, the head of the Leafs' newly revamped goaltending department, has been Murray's off-season trainer.
Murray has had a rough couple of years, including losing his father in 2018 and a slew of injuries. With the Leafs having the best medical team in the league, Murray will be able to get the treatment he needs for any injuries and any mental fatigue he experiences. His medical history is why this deal took so long to put together. The Leafs wanted to make sure he would be healthy to start the season and according to the reports, he is.
Hopefully the Leafs will help Murray bounce back and return to the goalie he was during his time in Pittsburgh and a much better defensive team in front of him in Toronto than what he had become accustomed to in Ottawa should help.
Obviously, there was some speculation that the Leafs would either have landed Murray at 50% retained, or that if the Sens retained a lesser amount, there may have been a third team involved to retain addition salary. Nevertheless, the deal has been made and the sweetener was far less than what anyone was expecting.
We had originally projected the compensation to be either a 2nd round pick or the player equivalent, namely, Roby Jarventie, but it appears as though the Leafs were content with a 2023 3rd and a future 7th.
| POLL | ||
11 JUILLET | 570 ANSWERS Leafs land a goalie; Murray en route to Toronto with salary retained What are your initial thoughts about the Matt Murray trade? | ||
| Great deal, retained salary and giving up nothing | 143 | 25.1 % |
| Bad deal and not enough retention | 91 | 16 % |
| Good deal, not enough retention | 185 | 32.5 % |
| Hate everything about this deal... | 151 | 26.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
