The trade that had been bandied about for a few days has officially gone down. The Toronto Maple Leafs have acquired goaltender Matt Murray from the Ottawa Senators along with two draft picks in exchange for future considerations. The Senators will retain 25% of Murray’s remaining salary and also give up a 3rd-round pick in ‘23 and a 7th-round pick in ‘24 as sweeteners for the Lefas taking on the final two seasons of his contract.
On Monday afternoon it was reported that the two sides were close but that the Leafs still had to do their due diligence Murray’s injury situation. Needing to go through the medical information of the player, what Toronto didn’t want was to take on the contract of a goaltender who was never going to be healthy enough to play. While that’s still a legitimate concern, the Leafs decided they knew enough about Murray from their history with the player and his past success with the Pittsburgh Penguins that he could be a solution for them in a market that didn’t offer a lot of other options.
Related: Maple Leafs and Senators Trade Talks Heat Up Over Matt Murray
The trade was something that had been discussed at the NHL Entry Draft and the Maple Leafs then backed away slightly when they moved the contract of Petr Mrazek off the books. Thinking they had the salary cap space to take another swing at Jack Campbell, it was likely learned quickly that Campbell had no intentions of coming back to the Maple Leafs. Kyle Dubas was then forced to go back to the Senators and work out the details of a trade.
There are fans on both sides of the fence on this deal. Some are looking back and Murray’s success years ago and thinking the Maple Leafs can get his ship pointed in the right direction again. Others are thinking that the Leafs are crazy for committing $4.6 million for two more years to a netminder that seems to have lost his game. Time will tell and perhaps the Leafs aren’t done. If they intend to find another goalie on the market as an insurance policy, that might relieve some of the concern among Leafs Nation today.
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