The worst trade the Leafs made this past year is a pretty obvious one, but is certainly worth addressing
The Toronto Maple Leafs were not in an enviable position this past summer, having just washed out to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 1st round for the 6th consecutive season and rumours swirling that Jack Campbell could test free agency, leaving them with only Petr Mrazek between the pipes.
The Mrazek signing in and of itself was an unmitigated disaster for the Leafs, and one that forced Kyle Dubas to part with his first round pick in order to move the final 2 seasons of Mrazek's deal to Chicago. Thankfully, Dubas was able to pluck what appears to be a gem in Fraser Minten in the 2nd round, but still - the deal itself didn't look too good for the Leafs at the time.
When it became apparent that Campbell would indeed be parting ways with the Leafs and heading to free agency, Dubas took to the phones to scour the league for a goaltender. What he came up with was a deal for the oft-injured Matt Murray, where the Leafs gave up nothing and received a 2-time Stanley Cup winner, with 25% of his salary retained and a pair of draft picks as compensation for taking on 75% of Murray's deal.
At the time, the reviews of the deal were mixed, with some loving the fact that Dubas paid nothing and got a starting goalie with two Cups to his name. The other side of the fanbase had a bad feeling that Murray's persistent health issues would come back to bite the team in the butt. Unfortunately, they were right, as Murray has suited up in just 26 games for the Leafs this season, despite being heavily load-managed. Injuries to his adductor, ankle and head have kept him out of action the majority of the year, and while he started fairly strong, it's not how you start - it's how you finish. Murray finished on the injured list with a worse SV% this year (.903) than he had posted last year in Ottawa (.906).
When Ilya Samsonov went down due to injury in Game 3 of their round 2 series, Murray had already been cleared to return to game action. However, it was Joseph Woll who was dressed as the backup and Woll who was also named as the starter for Game 4. That's pretty telling. The Leafs chose a relatively unproven rookie to save their season over a 2-time Cup champ. Ouch.
Now, it appears as though the Leafs will head into this summer in a similar position to the one they were in last summer. They have Samsonov as a pending RFA and Murray likely to be traded in the offseason to make room for Joseph Woll on the roster for next season. What's worse - just like they did with Mrazek, the Leafs are likely going to have to attach an asset to Murray to move him. They may even have to retain some salary.
Honestly, I don't blame Dubas for trying and hindsight is always 20/20, but this is not a good move to have on your resume just before negotiating a new contract with your organization. We'll see what sort of an effect Dubas' bet on Murray has on his negotiations this summer, and hopefully he doesn't have to pay too much to move Murray.
| POLL | ||
10 MAI | 2948 ANSWERS The worst trade the Leafs made this past year is a pretty obvious one, but is certainly worth addressing Was Matt Murray the worst mistake Dubas made during his term as GM of the Leafs? | ||
| Yes | 1217 | 41.3 % |
| No | 816 | 27.7 % |
| It was bad but the Kadri trade was worse | 915 | 31 % |
| List of polls | ||
