What can the Leafs do with the goalie who has one year left on his contract?
theathletic.com
1. Buy him out
First, the costs of a buyout, which the Leafs could choose to execute once the buyout window opens not long after the Stanley Cup Final comes to an end:
| Season | Cap hit |
| 2023-24 | $687,500 |
| 2024-25 | $2,000,000 |
It’s that second year, clearly, that’s most problematic.
Yes, the cap is expected to rise a fair bit by the 2024-25 season. Buying out Murray though would eat into that increase, robbing the Leafs of $2 million to play with at a time when new contracts for Auston Matthews and (maybe) William Nylander will kick in, TJ Brodie will need replacing, and Timothy Liljegren will be due a pricier deal. Who knows what the Leafs will be paying Samsonov, due a new contract this summer.
Every little bit counts.
That $2 million could simply account for the increase on Matthews’ next contract — from $11.64 million on the cap to whatever league-leading figure comes next. It might buy the Leafs a helpful third-liner or fifth defenceman.
If there’s appeal to the buyout route, it’s this: The only asset going out the door is cap space. Not great obviously in a hard cap world. However, the Leafs wouldn’t have to part with what could be a prime draft pick in any Murray trade.
The organizational supply of picks is low at the moment, especially the good ones.
Leafs' draft picks (2023-25)
| Round | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
| 1 | X | X | |
| 2 | | | |
| 3 | | X | X |
| 4 | | X | |
| 5 | X | XX | XX |
| 6 | X | X | X |
| 7 | | XX | X |
3. Keep him
There’s no way, right?
Samsonov is now the clear-cut No. 1 and Woll is poised to hold onto the backup job he snatched when Murray was injured late last season.
Also: Woll needs waivers to go back down to the Marlies. He could be great value on the cap, too, at $767,000.
Keeping Murray would mean either keeping all three goalies or serving Woll, who turns 25 in July, up for some other team to grab.
Not gonna happen right?
The Leafs could bring all three to camp and see how things play out. An injury to Samsonov or Woll and suddenly, Murray might be needed again. If that doesn’t happen, could they try trading him then? Teams do tend to need goalies at that time of year. But that’s dicey business — just hoping maybe someone will want Murray. That’s also, crucially, a huge chunk of cap space to throw away this offseason. The Leafs could simply bury Murray in the minors. That would save them $1.15 million in space, meaning Murray would be chewing up $3.5 million to play for the Marlies.
No bueno.
So yeah, hard to see a path that sees Murray returning.
A trade seems likeliest. Just last summer, Treliving flipped the final year of Sean Monahan’s problematic contract to Montreal at the cost of a first-round pick. He also bought out Troy Brouwer once upon a time.
What’s the move with Murray?
www.thestar.com
