Matt Murray is excited about the opportunity.
He also knows there are more than a few doubters.
The Toronto Maple Leafs acquired the goaltender — a player looking to return to the form that helped him win two Stanley Cups early in his career — from the Ottawa Senators on Monday along with two draft picks in exchange for future considerations.
Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas’ move is undoubtedly a bold one in the shrinking market for the Nets with last year’s No. 1 option, star Jack Campbell, set to hit free agency Wednesday at 12 p.m. ET as Toronto looks to settle its biggest summer question mark.
But despite solid career numbers, Murray’s statistical profile has declined over the past three seasons, including two in the nation’s capital after being traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins, due to poor play and injury.
“I’m extremely motivated,” Murray said Tuesday during a video conference call with reporters.
“I have a lot to prove.”
Social media lit up — it’s the Leafs, after all — after it was reported that a deal was close, and then erupted when it was announced.
There was criticism of the player Murray, his contract and the fact that Ottawa only eats 25 percent of the remaining dollars.
“Toronto is a great place” to push goaltenders
The 28-year-old intends to show that Dubas, who along with Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe, had Murray in the minors with Saul State. Marie Greyhounds a decade ago was right to take the plunge.
“It’s all about trying to be the best I can be,” he said. “Toronto is a great place for that.
“A lot of excitement from me.”
Acquiring Murray was necessitated by a number of factors, including Campbell looking ready to run and several other realistic No. 1 options on the market where the dollars and deadline would make sense.
Toronto also traded underperforming netminder Petr Mrazek to the Chicago Blackhawks to clear salary cap space in the draft to pave the way for Murray’s move.
The Leafs may be looking for another goaltender to work alongside Murray. But with a salary commitment of nearly $4.69 million over the next two seasons — Ottawa picks up that portion of his cap hit of $6.25 million in 2023-24 — it’s safe to assume Murray will be the starter when training camp opens.
Toronto set team records for wins and points last season, while Auston Matthews became the first Leaf to score 60 goals and the third to win the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP.
But an ultra-talented lineup that also features Mitch Marner, John Tavares and William Nylander up front once again failed to advance in the postseason, ending a franchise playoff drought that dates back to 2004 and includes seven straight series losses.
“There are so many great players on this team,” Murray said. “It’s something I’m super, super excited to join.”
Cup titles with the Penguins
A third-round pick of the Penguins in 2012, he appeared in 246 regular-season games, posting a 132-78-22 record with a .911 save percentage, 2.77 goals-against average and 14 shutouts.
The Thunder Bay, Ont., native owns a 29-21 playoff record, including bowl wins with Pittsburgh in 2016 and 2017, along with a .921 save percentage, 2.18 GAA and six shutouts.
A big concern from Toronto’s perspective, though, has to be Murray’s injury history, which has included concussions, and his recent sample size, especially with Ottawa.
The rebuilding Senators signed the netminder to a four-year, $25 million contract in an October 2020 trade with the goal of him leading a young group from the ground up.
The offense just never worked in the nation’s capital, and Murray’s decline began before he left the Penguins.
In his final season with Pittsburgh and two in Ottawa, he played just 85 games, going 35-36-8, with an .899 save percentage, 3.06 GAA and four shutouts.
The low point came in November when he was released, went unclaimed by the remaining 31 teams in the NHL and was demoted to the American Hockey League.
‘No bad feelings’
Murray could sulk.
Instead, he rebounded with a 5-4-2 record, a .941 save percentage and an 11-game shutout over a six-week span after rejoining the big club in January before a couple of bad outings and a neck injury put an end to it of his season in March.
He knows me well, he knows my game well, he knows how to push me.— Matt Murray on new Maple Leafs head of goaltending development John Elkin
“No offense,” Murray said of how things went in Ottawa. “But I’m focusing on the present and the near future.
“That’s where my energy is, my attention and my focus.”
He will work in Toronto with new goaltending coach Curtis Sanford and John Elkin, who is the Leafs’ head of development at the position and has a long history with Murray dating back to the latter’s childhood at his hockey school.
“He knows me well, he knows my game well, he knows how to pressure me,” Murray said of Elkin. “I think he can provide a lot of information in all those respects.”
Murray grew up a Leafs fan. It was also his late father’s favorite team.
“We watched games together,” he said of James Murray, who died in 2018. “Just to be able to put that shirt on for the first time, I think it’s going to be something really special.
“I can’t wait to see everything it holds and get things started.”
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