Scout believes that a Matt Murray trade is in the process of being finalized
There is a lot of work ahead for Leafs GM Brad Treliving this summer, and while the Auston Matthews and William Nylander extensions will remain a huge focus, perhaps the next most interesting storyline is what the Leafs plan to do with Matt Murray, who has one year left on his current deal, for which the Leafs are on the hook for his $4.68M cap hit.
One of the hottest theories is that the Leafs intend to buy Murray out, as the cap penalty will be negligible for this season and then will only be just over $2M next season. Others believe that the best course of action is to just pay a significant sweetener to just trade the final year of Murray's deal. These are both viable options, but one scout believes that there is another route that the Leafs and a trade partner could be going with this.
Per Slovak scout Sam Tirpak, the Leafs could look at trading Matt Murray to a rebuilding team, at which point that team would then buy him out so that the Leafs aren't stuck with his $4.68M cap hit or any dead space due to a buyout. Tirpak also believes that such a deal won't cost the Leafs an enormous fee like some are suggesting.
Perhaps the most interesting tidbit in all of this, though, is that Tirpak believes that the Leafs are actually in the process of finalizing such a trade as we speak. He made no mention of what the cost to the Leafs would be to entice another team into taking on and buying out Murray's deal, but he did say that he believes that the cost will be lower than a 1st round pick.
We are now just 6 days away from the June 28th draft, so it's a reasonable expectation that a trade will occur within the next week, if it is indeed in the cards. We don't have long to wait for a resolution here either way.
| POLL | ||
JUIN 22 | 942 ANSWERS Scout believes that a Matt Murray trade is in the process of being finalized Will Matt Murray be traded or bought out? | ||
| Bought out | 374 | 39.7 % |
| Traded | 309 | 32.8 % |
| Traded and then bought out! | 259 | 27.5 % |
| List of polls | ||
