The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that they will be placing goaltender Matt Murray on the LTIR prior to the start of the 2023-24 season. No details on Murray’s injury were provided in the release, which will surely lead to a lot of speculation in the coming days. With Murray joining Jake Muzzin on LTIR, the Maple Leafs will remain $2.1MM over the salary cap, meaning that they will need to do some cap gymnastics in the coming weeks to try and get under the $83.5MM salary cap by October.
Murray’s first season in Toronto was a difficult one for the former two-time Stanley Cup champion as he battled inconsistency and injuries once again. The Thunder Bay, Ontario native hasn’t been able to steady his game or remain in the net since his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Murray was dealt by the Penguins to the Ottawa Senators in October 2020 and quickly signed a four-year extension worth $24MM. The deal was heavily criticized at the time as being too rich and too long for a goaltender that had struggled to stay healthy and consistent.
The Senators were then forced into a cap dump last summer as they traded Murray to the Maple Leafs along with two draft picks for future considerations. Trading for Murray was a good idea in theory from former general manager Kyle Dubas, however, in reality, the deal never worked out for Toronto as Murray was unable to bounce back or stay healthy. Murray dressed in just 26 games going 14-8-2 with a 3.01 goals-against average and a .903 save percentage.
The move will effectively end any talks of a buyout, which is ultimately the best outcome for the player and team. Matt Murray will retain his entire $8MM salary for the upcoming season and the Leafs will be able to use the entire $4.7MM of the cap space that would have been allocated to Murray.
It is quite the fall from grace for a netminder who looked like a budding superstar just six years ago. Murray won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins as a rookie and looked like he was the future of the Penguins when the team moved on from franchise icon Marc-Andre Fleury. However, Murray’s career began to derail a short time later due to multiple injuries and inconsistent play and since then he has been unable to right the ship.
Well, that was convenient. That’s got to be one of the youngest players I’ve ever seen in the LTIR loophole.
Very convenient but it was obvious from a mile away. You dont make all these moves, bertuzzi domi klingberg. when your a cap crunching team unless you already know you have the cap space. I dont think they qere going to buy him out either i think they already planned to put him on the ltir. I just find it convenient considering he himself and the team docs cleared him to play in the playoff if needed. But concussion are a nasty little injury that never really goes away
Still can’t believe that Matt Murray has become Jim Carrey.
We don’t win either of those Cups without him.
I hope it’s not post-concussion stuff. The guy deserves a break and a chance to heal.
That’s the best case scenario imo, I figured when he wasn’t bought out in the 48 hour window they had to do so, that he would be going on ltir since you can’t buy out a injured player.
Glad he’s gone, one major headache dealt with and now they can move forward with whatever moves they need to do. They over 2 mil in cap now and since u can bury 1.2 in the minors they are pretty much cap Compliant.
It’s actually a 72 hr window.
Still can’t believe the League allows these players that were cleared to play at end of season, have no major surgeries, and conveniently become injured for the next 9 months!
Is it 72? Coulda swore it was 48 but yeah either way lol
They have to have medical evaluation and documentation stating the injury and length of recovery to be eligible for ltir
He suffers from can’t playitis disease
How “convenient”
This is bogus, nhl should not allow this cheating
yeah putting a guy on LTIR to become cap compliant you don’t want is worse than putting a guy you will use on LTIR you know will heal as soon as the playoffs role around
They’re gonna get caught using ltir for non injured players like Murray – some other teams are gonna complain
I hope he is cleared to play like a month into the season.
Because this is a joke
I thought a team had to be cap compliant before being able to utilize LTIR space to start the season?
We’ve seen LTIR used a ton over the last few years with guys becoming healthy as soon as the playoffs start.
How does it work exactly? I would understand a team being granted a bonus cap space equal to the minimum salary to replace players until they return. I can’t understand how the league has made it to be used to play without a few guys during the season then go over the cap once the playoffs start.
Or to bury contracts
Easy solution to all this ltir loophole. I know the league will never do it but still.. hire 3rd party medical staff a team not paid by the nhl. To go around the league once a month and perform exams on all these “injured” players if they fail fine no punishment but if they are deemed healthy the team is punished with a fine for every week they r on the ltir that goes against the cap. If a player misses 3/4 of the season or 50+ games they are not eligible for the playoffs even if healthy.
Before you crucify me i already know the league will never go for somwthing like this and im a habs fan my team is just as guilty for this crap
The league has looked into LTIR in the past when it came to before the season began. In 2017 the league had Marian Hossa examined by a neutral physician to determine if he was able to play and only after that doctor made his determination was Hossa unable to play a week after examining him did he fall on LTIR. I think Murray and Robin Lehner fall into the same boat of should have them checked out by a neutral league assigned physician as well.
if the league has any integrity they veto this
Well…would YOU want him in net? His save% can’t be that high from his couch.