The Daily Faceoff Show: Why are the Maple Leafs interested in Matt Murray?
In the latest section of ‘The Blue Paint,’ NHL analyst Mike McKenna gave his perspective on the dwindling number of musical chairs in the goaltending market alongside host Frank Seravalli on The Daily Faceoff Show as they tried to make sense of Toronto’s rumored pursuit of Matt Murray.
Frank Seravalli: “I believe the Toronto Maple Leafs are in on Matt Murray. There’s a degree of familiarity between Murray and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Where did he play junior hockey? Sault. St. Marie, of course, with the Greyhounds, where Kyle Dubas was, where their coach Sheldon Keefe was. They saw Murray at his best in that final year of his junior hockey career. Lots of questions about Matt Murray and his game. What would your confidence level be like if it were the Maple Leafs acquiring Matt Murray?”
Mike McKenna: “Not very high. At this stage I just don’t see how you can expect a magic wand to fix some of the struggles of Matt Murray’s game. It’s been three full seasons since we’ve seen him truly be an elite goaltender at the NHL level. Granted he hasn’t had much support in Ottawa the last two seasons. In Pittsburgh it didn’t go great toward the end. I look at this game and I think, man, he’s not trapping the puck well, he’s complacent in some of his post integrations, he’s a little bit sloppy in his positioning. He’s not that rock-solid goaltender that we saw coming out of the American League and winning Stanley Cups his first couple years.
“He’s a reclamation project. If you’re the Toronto Maple Leafs, is that what you’re looking for? Another reclamation project? Just as Jack Campbell was before that? You have to assume that he is. That’s great that he was good in junior hockey for you, but if Matt Murray doesn’t work, who’s next? Do you bring in Brandon Halverson, who was also good in junior hockey? That’s kind of what we’re going towards here. And it’s not just Murray’s play. Even if you get a great version of Matt Murray. Even if Curtis Sanford, the new goalie coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs, brings Murray’s game back to what it was, because it was phenomenal – can he stay healthy? Because those questions are real too. Can you turn to Erik Kallgren for any games because Murray’s not healthy?
“I don’t know, man. I don’t have the feeling that this is a rock-solid play in any way. There’s a lot of hope going on. If it happens, I hope it works for Murray, I hope it works for the Leafs, because he has been a great goalie, but I wouldn’t have a lot of confidence in it, Frank.”
Seravalli: “It’s so multi-layered. It’s not even about his game. Yes, the game, there’s plenty of question marks, and I think we always wonder how much of an impact playing on what was essentially a pretty bad team in Ottawa over the last couple years had on him. But it’s also the health factor. Just 47 games played over the last couple seasons. Yes, one of those was COVID shortened, but still, hasn’t been able to stay upright, has had significant confidence issues I think as well, probably fair to say.
“But I think the Toronto Maple Leafs, if I’m reading this correctly, my sense is that the reason why they’re in on Matt Murray is because they’re reading the market that a lot of these chairs may already be spoken for. We never suggest that anyone out there is doing anything illegal or tampering, but what’s going on with Jack Campbell? They’ve waited a long time, had an opportunity weeks ago to bring Jack Campbell back. I think the longer it went on, Campbell’s probably in a spot like, ‘Hey, I’m a premier free agent on the market, and if you don’t want to bring me back, that says a lot.’
“It feels like they got into a spot like this last year with Zach Hyman as well. They circled back probably at the last moment to try and get something done and weren’t able to, because there were some feelers that had been put out in the marketplace.
“Hey, remember how early the Zach Hyman deal was rumored in Edmonton? Could a similar type thing be happening with Jack Campbell this time around? Same thing with Darcy Kuemper. They had an opportunity if they wanted to step up and trade a late-round pick to the Colorado Avalanche to have exclusive negotiating rights. That didn’t happen. There seems to be lots of smoke that Darcy Kuemper could be destined for a place like the Washington Capitals. If all those things are true – and I’m not saying that they are, but that’s just the current scuttlebutt that’s out there – you could see why the Leafs are in a spot where Murray might be the next best option available at this point, as they no doubt rely on Curtis Sanford their new goaltending coach and their goaltending consultant in John Elkin.”
You can watch the full episode here…