Matt Murray not placed on waivers, but don't panic; here's why
Many in the hockey world were waiting to see what the Leafs would do on Monday regarding Matt Murray, following the salary arbitration award announcement for Ilya Samsonov over the weekend. Much to the surprise of many in Leafs Nation, there as no waiver activity in the NHL on Monday.
So why, when the expectation was that the Leafs would buy out the final year of Matt Murray's contract, didn't the Leafs waive the veteran netminder? Well, there's actually a pretty good reason for that.
Following the settlement or award announcement in an arbitration case, there's actually a 3-day delay in between the time the settlement/award is announced and the time the 48-hour buyout window opens, as is outlined by CapFriendly in their buyout FAQ.
Clubs whom have 1 or more arbitration filings may be permitted to perform a buyout outside of the regular window. This gives teams another opportunity to become cap compliant following an arbitration case.
Clubs are permitted to perform a buyout outside the regular period during the 48 hour period beginning on the third day after the final of [CBA 13(c)ii]:
a. Settlement of the Club's final arbitration case, or
b. Receipt of the Club's last arbitration award
Requirements:
1. A buyout can only be performed on a player who was on the clubs reserve list at 3:00pm on the most recent trade deadline
2. The player must have a cap hit of at least $4,000,000 for the 2023 offseason
For more information regarding the CapFriendly Buyout FAQ, click here.
Yesterday's announcement came late in the afternoon, which means that the 72-hour window will likely carry us past Wednesday's 12pm waiver announcements. If that is the case, we could see Murray waived for the purposes of a buyout on Thursday.
This 3-day gap between the arb award and the opening of the 2nd buyout window could provide the Leafs with an opportunity to trade Murray's contract, rather than being stuck with $2M+ in dead cap space next summer. For that to happen, though, Leafs GM Brad Treliving would likely have to part with a pretty significant sweetener, due to Murray's lofty $8M actual salary this season.
| POLL | ||
JUILLET 24 | 310 ANSWERS Matt Murray not placed on waivers, but don't panic; here's why Will the Leafs find a trade partner for Murray over the next few days? Or will they be forced to buy him out later this week? | ||
| A trade will happen | 96 | 31 % |
| It will be a buyout, as planned | 214 | 69 % |
| List of polls | ||
