Player Discussion Matt Murray (G) - 4 years, $6.25M AAV

[CorrectOpinion]

A victim? He was awful. Did not give the team a chance to win

I agree to an extent but I also think the chances he faced mostly were legit dangerous chances?

Don't get me wrong, nothing has made me a Murray fan to this point.

 

[Butchy Dakkar]

How has he been? I picked him in my pool hoping for a bounce back season from him and have seen that his stats aren't good so far. Has he been shaky or has the issue been team defense?

Yes

 

[h2]

I agree to an extent but I also think the chances he faced mostly were legit dangerous chances?

Don't get me wrong, nothing has made me a Murray fan to this point.

Letting a scrub like Brandon Sutter score a hat trick on you is not defendable. Murray has some serious issues that need to be corrected. I have no idea how the goalie we faced in 2017 is at the level he's at now. I worry this is another Jim Carey, I hope he figures it out and returns to form though.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Letting a scrub like Brandon Sutter score a hat trick on you is not defendable. Murray has some serious issues that need to be corrected. I have no idea how the goalie we faced in 2017 is at the level he's at now. I worry this is another Jim Carey, I hope he figures it out and returns to form though.

Scrub Brandon Sutter would be our #2 C behind Tierney .. in a Meritocracy and He would bring much needed speed and responsible play to the lineup

 

[h2]

Scrub Brandon Sutter would be our #2 C behind Tierney .. in a Meritocracy and He would bring much needed speed and responsible play to the lineup

That says more about the state of our roster than an endorsement of Brandon Sutter.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

That says more about the state of our roster than an endorsement of Brandon Sutter.

I am willing to take improvement over what we have

 

[h2]

I am willing to take improvement over what we have

Brandon Sutter in our top 6 would be status quo. I read the Canucks board and they were in awe that Brandon Sutter scored 3 goals. He's usually criticized on that forum like we do with Tierney.

 

[Gil Gunderson]

I agree to an extent but I also think the chances he faced mostly were legit dangerous chances?

Don't get me wrong, nothing has made me a Murray fan to this point.

The first goal he let in should have been a routine save. The fourth one was pretty bad as well.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Brandon Sutter in our top 6 would be status quo. I read the Canucks board and they were in awe that Brandon Sutter scored 3 goals. He's usually criticized on that forum like we do with Tierney.

I realize that.. has not really lived up to his contract .. I get that .. He's still an improvement over the corpses we trot out there lol

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Brandon Sutter in our top 6 would be status quo. I read the Canucks board and they were in awe that Brandon Sutter scored 3 goals. He's usually criticized on that forum like we do with Tierney.

Sitter is what he is. He’s still a top two c on this Team. He’s an improvement on ansimov on stepan. So yeah. It’s indictment of this team. But it’s still an improvement. Not sure i trade for him tho. Unless they want one of those guys

 

[h2]

I realize that.. has not really lived up to his contract .. I get that .. He's still an improvement over the corpses we trot out there lol

A very marginal improvement. He's still a scrub, like most of our roster.

 

[Burrowsaurus]

Everytime I see this thread title I cringe. That money is ludicrous

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

A very marginal improvement. He's still a scrub, like most of our roster.

Other than being able to make it around the rink in the time it takes Anisimov and Stepan to get to the blue line ; its a marginal improvement

 

[h2]

Other than being able to make it around the rink in the time it takes Anisimov and Stepan to get to the blue line ; its a marginal improvement

Those two are next level scrub.

We've had some bad teams in recent years, but I think the quality of centers is at an all-time low right now.

 

[Sens of Anarchy]

Those two are next level scrub.

We've had some bad teams in recent years, but I think the quality of centers is at an all-time low right now.

finally some common ground lol

 

[SenzZen]

 

[inthewings]

What happens if Murray continues to suck and Hogberg or Daccord don't emerge as a capable starter?

Would we trade/sign for an actual #1 goalie and make Murray the backup? Or would we have to suffer through the remaining 3YRs of his deal without a true #1 goalie?

Pretty sure it would just be the Martin Jones situation: run him out there until the contract expires.

 

[GCK]

We should have picked up Fleury and gotten a pick from Vegas rather than trading for Murray. Fleury has a modified NTC but I believe he waived it this summer.

 

[Artanis]

Murray needs to get his shit together.

 

[Big Muddy]

I kind of had a "what???" moment when they traded for an unsigned Murray, given the options on the market.

There were a lot of goalies available in free agency this year.

 

[Boud]

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My guy looks tired 24/7

 

[Tuna99]

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he looks like Richard Ashcroft’s brother

 

[Xspyrit]

Even if he is a decent goalie man is he gonna take a lot of psychological damage being the starter here. Wouldn't be surprised if the contract becomes Martin Jones bad.

Very few goalies will look good and/or have good stats on teams that have a deficient "team defense"

People were looking at the Sharks lineup last year thinking "hey they have those names, they should be good", but if you leak too many prime scoring chances against, you most likely won't be able to outscore the opposition on a regular basis because most teams priority is structure and team defense.

In the Sharks games I watched, they were bleeding high danger scoring chances. In terms of HDCA/60, Sharks were 27th, Sens were 24th. I suspect their coaching staff were trying to have the team to heavily focus on defense, they were 27th in GF/GP and the year before they were 3rd...

Matt Murray 2019-20 (out of 58 goalies with 1000+ TOI All Strenghts)

- 34th highest HDSA/60
- 26th in HDSV%
- 50th in SV%
- 16th lowest average shot distance

Matt Murray 2016-17 to 2018-19 (out of 56 goalies with 3000+ TOI All Strenghts)

- 10th highest HDSA/60
- 4th in HDSV%
- 17th in SV%
- 24th lowest average shot distance

The fact that Murray was 4th in HDSV% despite the 10th highest HDSA/60 shows he was really elite. Last year and the first 5 games this season isn't close to what he did before. He is only 26 y/o... So what is going on? Is it physical? Is it mental/confidence? Does he need the right goalie coach? Is he done? Is it a bad career stretch?

Maybe getting a goalie that needs to "re-find" his game wasn't the best idea, not with that group and team defense lol. I assume his stats will be really bad this year. You have to hope that he can bounce back next year IF we have a better structure in front of him and get some defensive help (Sanderson? Brannstrom? JBD? Trade/UFA? Faster/better forwards? New coaching staff? Etc)

But as long as we have the Melnyk/Dorion/DJ trifecta, I'm not super optimistic about the NHL team.

 

[Xspyrit]

Was thinking of how different Vegas / Pittsburgh last few years woulda been if Pitt left Murray unprotected vs Fleury waiving. This is since the expansion draft. Fleury has been a dramatically better goaltender than Murray over that time period.

	GP	W	L	SV%	GAA
Murray	141	77	43	90.9	2.84
Fleury	159	94	50	91.5	2.49

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Comparing goalies playing on 2 different teams with just basic stats can be misleading. I'm not saying it is in the case here but context is needed

Fleury vs Murray

SV% : 0.915 vs 0.909
SA/60 : 29.73 vs 31.12
HDSA/60 : 7.9 vs 8.59
HDSV% : 0.805 vs 0.832
Rush Attempts Against/60 : 1.54 vs 1.62
Average shot Distance : 36.40 vs 36.19

So yes Fleury had a better SV% and GAA but it is partially explained by having an easier job than Murray had. Also, Murray's last year stats skews everything and brought down his stats significantly. If you remove 2019-20, it's actually very similar to Fleury (who also didn't have a great season last year)

Why did we rush to sign him for 4YRs after a sub .900 SV% season?

Would have thought Dorion learned his lesson after extending Anderson prematurely and having it blow up in his face.

You're forgetting Condon who got 3 years x 2.4 after a nice stretch

How has he been? I picked him in my pool hoping for a bounce back season from him and have seen that his stats aren't good so far. Has he been shaky or has the issue been team defense?

Don't touch any Sens goalie in a pool for the foreseeable future.

The first goal he let in should have been a routine save. The fourth one was pretty bad as well.

1st goal : bad rebound that shouldn't happen for sure but Stepan created a turnover by falling down and then Gudbranson and Reilly (lost as usual) got played by Sutter on his ass. Gud's crosscheck actually created the situation rather than helped. So you can pin that goal on Murray but it's not like the guys in front of him were of any help. Actually, I made a deeper analysis here :

Prospect Info: - 2020-2021 Senators Prospect Watch - Part 2

4th goal : It's a partial breakaway and a great shot from Sutter. Murray was outside the blue paint and well positionned. Not sure Sutter could make that shot again from that angle and with a goalie in that position if he wanted. I wouldn't put much blame on the goalie but yes you wish he'd have that. It would have been a pretty good shoulder or stick's butt end save

 

[Joeyjoejoe]

Not looking great so far. Still early so hopefully he makes some adjustments.