The Leafs have an absolute road warrior in Matt Murray; The 28-year-old leads the NHL in two important categories on the road
For the Toronto Maple Leafs and, more specifically, Leafs GM Kyle Dubas, I'm sure there was a great deal of finger crossing, wishing, hoping and praying that the moves they made to address a need in goal this summer would pay off. Well, the early returns are good and while the true test is whether or not the tandem of Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov are able to find success in the playoffs, it's hard not to be optimistic right now.
Murray, in particular, seems to have brought a very valuable skill set to this Maple Leafs team. His ability to play well on the road is evident this season, as Murray leads the entire NHL in both road SV% and goals saved above expected (GSAA). So far this season, Murray has played 7 of his 9 games on the road. He has won 5 of those starts and collected points in 6, with his lone regulation loss coming against the Montreal Canadiens in his Leafs debut on opening night.
Murray's .934 SV% is best in the NHL of any goaltender who has played at least 300 minutes on the road and his 7.11 GSAA in the same number of minutes is tops in the league as well.
I know it's still very early in the season and there are still plenty of ways this can go sideways. We saw it last season with Jack Campbell, who played tremendously well through the first couple of months, November particularly, and then went cold for much of the year that followed. Having said that, there's something about Murray's game that I did not see with Campbell. Murray has this calming presence to him. He's not caught swimming in his crease very often - except to make a desperation save - and he has played so well positionally and hasn't often found himself down and out of a play - something we can't say for Campbell who seemed to beat himself on a lot of nights.
For Murray, the road back to the top of the NHL has been a long one, having endured some of the worst years of his career in Ottawa, so you can imagine he's riding high right now on a wave of confidence. That's something that is really important to the success of a goaltender. If Murray can continue to keep that cool, calming presence about him the rest of the way, we may not just be looking at a potential league-best tandem between he and Samsonov, we could also be talking about Matt Murray challenging for a Vezina Trophy. Again - a lot can happen between now and the end of the year, but Murray is a guy who has reached the pinnacle not once, but TWICE. He knows a thing or two about winning and I like his chances of maintaining his strong play more than I like his chances of finishing at the .906 SV% that he finished with last year with a bottom-feeding Senators team.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 7 | 207 ANSWERS The Leafs have an absolute road warrior in Matt Murray; The 28-year-old leads the NHL in two important categories on the road Will Matt Murray challenge for a Vezina Trophy this season? | ||
| Yes | 130 | 62.8 % |
| No | 65 | 31.4 % |
| Not a chance in hell | 12 | 5.8 % |
| List of polls | ||
