Confirmed with Link: [TOR/OTT] Matt Murray (25% retention), a 3rd in 2023 and a 7th in 2024 for Future Considerations.

[The Masters]

Dubas probably felt the pressure of being out maneuvered all weekend for various goalies and just hit the check out button on this one like he did on the Mrazek deal last summer. Just anything to get the depth chart populated.

Sad. That's what happens when you dont draft and develop - you get left scrambling and dont have leverage. Failed last season with that dumb mzarek signing .. lets see what happens this season.

you cannot go back to back off-seasons with major goalie failures

 

[DueDiligence]

Funny enough for all his “troubles”last season

Murray had a .920 % up to his last 2 games of the season when they left him in the net for 8 goals

In 20 games last year Murray had 8 games where he let in 4 or more goals. (40% of his games) In comparison Forsberg played in 46 games for the Sens last year and had 11 games with 4 or more goals. (24%)

 

[Richard]

I honestly thought Murray played pretty good this past season.

 

[LastOne2100]

There was a global pandemic that decimated the salary cap. They signed Tavares to a contract that was expensive but largely fine, until COVID came in and blew up the cap projections at the legitimate worst time. All teams had to deal with the flat cap, but one team signed three 10M+ long-term deals the year before it, expecting increases. Just brutal timing honestly.

From there you do what you can do. The options were trading Marner or Nylander. Nylander bang for buck is the best of the four. Marner has been 1st team allstar (RW) two years in a row, hard to replace that for his money even if he is overpaid relative to peers. Can't trade Tavares (NMC). He rebuilt the D - Rielly, Muzzin, Gio, Brodie, Liljegren, Sandin, Holl? 1-7? Got to be the best they've had in what - 20 years? Not kidding.

All this and they set a franchise record for points and wins. He has his misses, I think today is one of them with Murray - but honestly, they've done what I think is best, messing with the margins since any deal of MM/WN makes them worse.

Very few GMs got themselves into as bad of a situation as Kyle did due to the pandemic. Some teams were more responsible or had fall back plans.

 

[rojac]

So, the nixed Buffalo deal was supposedly Murray at 25% retained to Buffalo and the two teams swapping their firsts. So, basically the sweetener for Buffalo was moving up 9 spots in the 1st round. How does the sweetener that Toronto got (3rd and 7th) compare, based on this year’s draft?

 

[CelticDruid]

I'm most certainly in the minority here but I like this trade. We got draft picks and a potential high reward goalie that doesn't have a contract that extends past Austin Matthews. We can use those picks later on if need be to pick up assets at the deadline.

We played half of last season with well under 900 goaltending and still had home ice. Not worried at all.

And in your past life you were the Captain of the Titanic.

 

[NewEraGM]

Does it have to be 25% or 50% retention, or can it be in between?

Can be anything below 50%

 

[ToneDog]

I'm with you.

I would like to see Matt Murray play for the Leafs before I pass judgment.

There were times in Ed Belfour's career that he looked like he couldn't stop a 2-4 sliding across the ice though the five-hole. However, put him in the right frame of mind behind a half-decent defence and he did pretty well for us. He's probably not an outlier.

I would put more stock on Murray's past successes than his failures. Not every goalie can do what he's done and at his age.

What have any of the others accomplished that Murray hasn't done -- and at his age?

Yeah we can wait to see how Murray plays but Dubas held the hammer (i mean go through the other thread and see what some of his fanboys were saying) and only got 25% retention. The two draft picks won't help us this year and we needed the cap space to help fill out the rest of the lineup.

 

[Strangle]

It's not worse. But it's not living up to its potential.

Got himself into cap hell immediately and every move he has made since has been with one hand tied behind his back.

Covid really messed up the cap situation and this teams window.

But with that said, the Montreal series is the real f*** up. And that one is all on the players. Should have had a big run that year and they choked it. Choked a 3-1 series lead to an inferior tea, who then took that momentum from us and went to the finals.

That was the year and the team choked

 

[CanHeDoIt99]

Does the analytics community typically take credit for NHL transactions?

I mean its pretty easy to see the receipts of opinions/decisions - ones praised by folks to utilize the data, and ones ripped on by the same.

When Matt Murray was traded to Ottawa, i'm curious what the pro scouting community thought.

 

[LeafSteel]

I'm excited! Almost as much as when Eddie The Eagle signed.

Murray has had some serious injury/personal issues for a few years, on top of being traded to a hockey garbage pile.
But, his head's still in it, and he has shown some good signs while playing injured behind trash.

The main thing he gave the Penguins during their runs was a calming fire-extinguishing presence when defence broke down for periods (which happened a lot), as opposed to MAF's gasoline on a dumpster fire.

Go Matt go!

Waiter, I’d like to drink what he’s drinking please……

 

[JadedLeaf]

Campbell will want 4 or 5 years at $5 million, and I wouldn't want to make that commitment. I agree with all the posters - even if you think Murray is a reasonable risk, and you get a solid back up - surely we could have pulled either better sweeteners or a higher % retention by the Sens.

Its kind of just a shitty situation all around. There were really no other options. But you're right and I didn't have time to think about the term that campbell would have wanted too. I guess we kind of just have to rely on a hope and a prayer our goaltending is decent this year. I'd love to eat crow in this case. Bring on the crow.

 

[NMacrules]

Its getting very easy to hate this team. Matthews and Marner greedy little pukes. Nylander is a coward.
Tavares has slowed down to the speed of molasses. Our D are light and getting slower. Dubas re-ups Engvall, the teams biggest turnover machine last year. Dubas is so inept as a GM and the agents bent him over. Now need to extend Matthews within 12 months because then his NTC kicks in.

Fire everyone, trade everyone start over. This team won't win shit.

 

[BertCorbeau]

So, the nixed Buffalo deal was supposedly Murray at 25% retained to Buffalo and the two teams swapping their firsts. So, basically the sweetener for Buffalo was moving up 9 spots in the 1st round. How does the sweetener that Toronto got (3rd and 7th) compare, based on this year’s draft?

Someone posted awhile back that it wasn't actually fair off in value all things considered. Looks ugly on the surface though.

 

[ToneDog]

In fairness there isn't a true #1 available really .. I guess Kuemper but he'll cost a fortune which poses a huge contract risk.

It's like Dubas acquired a gently used band aid and is hoping is sticks for the season.

I said earlier today the trick was to get a solid sweetener and retention so we can get a second goalie and/or more depth up front. We virtually got neither.

 

[uncleben]

Didn't we ask for a second for the oilers to reduce Hymans aav by 500k?

How do we do that then get a 3 and a 7 to get the sens off the hook for 4 mil

Whether you still agree with the decision or not, the story went Holland was trying to purposefully wring out and take advantage of Dubas' greenness and naivety
Dubas didn't walk from the deal as much as he walked from being exactly what Holland was trying to paint him to be

Again, should he have just made the deal and gotten something? Maybe.
Was that story probably slightly sensationalized by some of the press? Likely.
But there's probably some truth there too, and GM relationships/reputations do carry some weight across the league

 

[Akrapovince]

He had a 6 week stretch in Ottawa where he played absolutely stellar hockey. You can win a cup in 6 weeks getting the goaltending he gave us.

Maybe the value was off a bit for you guys, but with better defensive forwards, better defensemen and more scoring support, Murray has as good as a chance as any other goaltender in the league of getting hot at the right time.

I said this on the main boards but I’ll say it again. Sometimes, you can get a 40+ year old Mike Smith that plays like Kuemper should and sometimes you get a Kuemper playing the way a 40+ year old Mike Smith should. It’s always going to be a gamble, and gambling on Murray getting hot is as good as a gamble as most.

I’ll go as far as saying it really doesn’t matter who you have in net unless you have a Helle, Vasi or Shesterkin in between the pipes.

It doesn’t matter whether it’s Kuemper, Campbell, Raanta, Saros, Grubauer, Freddie, Samsonov, any of these mid-level goalies can collapse in the playoffs and any of these goalies can get hot. Same with Matt Murray, except he has two Stanley cups on his resume.

I don’t know, just have some faith. The trade is done, the value is what it is, I’m confident Murray will be revitalized in Toronto with the team they have in front of him.

Sorry another thing to add, I would usually edit but just wanted more eyes on this comment.

Why do people quote games played as if it’s an analytically projectable thing? As far as I’m concerned, Murray has no lingering injury concerns.

It’s like saying since Matthews didn’t complete a full season from 17-19 don’t expect him to play 75+ games in 20. It just doesn’t work that way.

 

[CanHeDoIt99]

Very few GMs got themselves into as bad of a situation as Kyle did due to the pandemic. Some teams were more responsible or had fall back plans.

What do you mean by more responsible or a fall back plan for when the pandemic hit? Can you give me an example of what fall back plan for a one in a hundred year pandemic a team projected without knowing?

 

[BertCorbeau]

Its getting very easy to hate this team. Matthews and Marner greedy little pukes. Nylander is a coward.
Tavares has slowed down to the speed of molasses. Our D are light and getting slower. Dubas re-ups Engvall, the teams biggest turnover machine last year. Dubas is so inept as a GM and the agents bent him over. Now need to extend Matthews within 12 months because then his NTC kicks in.

Fire everyone, trade everyone start over. This team won't win shit.

They cannot extend Matthews until next July 1st.

 

[Lemontree]

why couldn’t Shersterkin have played for the Soo. who knew the best day of being a leaf fan in the last few months was losing game 7 again.

Too bad he wasn’t 23, draft eligible and only played a handful of games in the SHL this year…..could have been our 4th round selection.

 

[kb]

Dubas probably felt the pressure of being out maneuvered all weekend for various goalies and just hit the check out button on this one like he did on the Mrazek deal last summer. Just anything to get the depth chart populated.

That's the second time this fallacy has been spewed.

They lost out on Husso, who took a 3rd to acquire, and was vastly overpaid for a 3-4 week heater and absolutely nothing else, and Vanacek.

Please share this long list of all the goalies that he was 'outmanoeuvred' on?

 

[Tak7]

There was a global pandemic that decimated the salary cap. They signed Tavares to a contract that was expensive but largely fine, until COVID came in and blew up the cap projections at the legitimate worst time. All teams had to deal with the flat cap, but one team signed three 10M+ long-term deals the year before it, expecting increases. Just brutal timing honestly.

From there you do what you can do. The options were trading Marner or Nylander. Nylander bang for buck is the best of the four. Marner has been 1st team allstar (RW) two years in a row, hard to replace that for his money even if he is overpaid relative to peers. Can't trade Tavares (NMC). He rebuilt the D - Rielly, Muzzin, Gio, Brodie, Liljegren, Sandin, Holl? 1-7? Got to be the best they've had in what - 20 years? Not kidding.

All this and they set a franchise record for points and wins. He has his misses, I think today is one of them with Murray - but honestly, they've done what I think is best, messing with the margins since any deal of MM/WN makes them worse.

To tie a bow on your well written post - 2 years of Murray, with a palatable buyout option if things go south this year, still is a lot less riskier than committing to 5+ years of Campbell or another free agent goalie.

It also allows them to be flexible heading into the renewal windows for Matthews and Nylander.

 

[NMacrules]

They cannot extend Matthews until next July 1st.

When does his NTC kick in?

 

[Legion34]

In 20 games last year Murray had 8 games where he let in 4 or more goals. (40% of his games) In comparison Forsberg played in 46 games for the Sens last year and had 11 games with 4 or more goals. (24%)

Lol now do Campbell

 

[Bowski]

Waiter, I’d like to drink what he’s drinking please……

Be a hater all you want.

Murray/Leafs at 100% capacity: