Chicago’s goaltending situation appears to be in some question as the Blackhawks and veteran Corey Crawford appear to still have a notable financial gap to bridge for a deal for next season. Meanwhile, the future of Matt Murray in Pittsburgh has been in question for a while and even more so now with today’s re-signing of Tristan Jarry. The two teams could wind up providing the answer for each other as Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch reports (Twitter link) that the Blackhawks have expressed some interest in Murray.
The 26-year-old is set to become a restricted free agent with arbitration eligibility next week and in a recent column, Garrioch noted that there’s a sense that Murray’s preference may be to go through that process and become eligible for unrestricted free agency next offseason. While the acquiring team could certainly try to sign him to a new deal, that particular approach won’t help his trade value which may not be all that high anyway given the other options available in trades and free agency. Speaking with reporters today including Seth Rorabaugh of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review following Jarry’s signing, Penguins GM Jim Rutherford suggested that he expect Murray’s case to proceed towards a hearing:
I would suspect it will be an arbitration case, and we’ll just walk through it as each event comes along.
Murray is coming off the worst statistical season of his career as he managed just a .899 SV% in 38 games (all starts) which allowed Jarry to make a push for more regular playing time, earning himself an All-Star nod in the process. Although Murray has won two Stanley Cups with the Penguins, it’s clear that the team views Jarry as their goalie of the future and with limited cap space, it will force their hand into moving Murray even though his value isn’t at its peak.
For Chicago, Murray would have the potential to represent a long-term solution between the pipes if he was willing to sign for more than one year this summer. With Crawford being 35, he’d only represent a short-term fix if he re-signs while none of their options in the minors projects to be a starter at the NHL level. However, Chicago has limited cap space to work with already with Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Strome likely to gobble up most of that room. Murray will quite likely cost more than Crawford next year so bringing him in would only increase the amount of money they need to free up this offseason. But if GM Stan Bowman thinks that Murray is part of the long-term puzzle for Chicago, it’s something that would be worth doing even with the challenges of clearing out cap room in this current environment.
The Hawks own our second round pick that we sent to Vegas years ago to ensure they would select Fleury in the expansion draft (as if they wouldn’t have anyway) from the Lehner deal.
Saad and hold half his salary
If you are a team with an aging goaltender now might be the time to buy murray. Don’t have a chance to get a 2 time cup winner very often even if he hasn’t played up to expectations. What I see happening is them offering him and then trading. Gives buying team a chance to see if he can turn it around. Deal could include a stipulation on performance or resigning
I don’t give up much for murray. He is Osgood. A good goalie who good enough to not lose. Crosby /malkin etc won it. Would rather take a chance guy like crawford for year or two.
Could the Maatta trade to Los Angeles be the first domino to fall for the Hawks to get some cap room to make a goalie move?