The Toronto Maple Leafs got bad news after concern in the afternoon on Saturday that goaltender Matt Murray might have suffered an injury was revealed. Murray is headed to LTIR and the Maple Leafs will have to make a go of it without their pegged starter. Reports are that he’s suffered an abductor injury and will miss a minimum of four weeks.
Chris Johnston of TSN is among those reporting that Erik Källgren has been recalled and he will back up Ilya Samsonov in net on Saturday as the Maple Leafs take on the much-improved Ottawa Senators.
Murray suffered the injury during Saturday’s morning skate and it’s just another injury in a long line of injuries for the veteran netminder. His health was among the bigger concerns when Toronto acquired him from the Senators in a trade this offseason. Just three games into the 2022-23 season, Murray is already proving that he’s either going to continue to have bad luck, or he’s simply injury-prone.
The LTIR status means he will be unavailable to the Leafs for a minimum of either 10 games and 24 days. It’s not necessarily enough time for the Leafs to go out and acquire another goaltender, but it’s enough time that it could put the Leafs behind the eight-ball in the standings if they got off to a poor start.
As David Alter points out, the positive side is the Leafs can now carry 23 players with the extra LTI space ahead of their first long road trip next week
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