How Maple Leafs fans reacted to Matt Murray trade

Toronto fans reacted to the trade with Ottawa for Matt Murray with a mixture of confusion and frustration, and for once the majority of Leafs fans are doubting the decision making of general manager Kyle Dubas.

Video Transcript

- And if you're watching this and you're finally in the timeline where Matt Murray is actually a Leaf, because it's been so long since we've heard about it happening and heard details about it-- Nick, were you following that on Twitter? Like, oh, it's getting close and it's getting close. And, oh my gosh, like, can we finally get to the trade? And then the trade happens, and I think for the first time-- like, Dubas has been a polarizing figure as far as being the GM of the Leafs. And I think for the most part, when he makes a deal or a signing, there's kind of, like, a split. You know, sometimes it's like 60/40 or 50/50 as far as like, hey, this is a good move, or, hey, this is bad, fire him.

But the Matt Murray trade was, I think, one of the first deals we've seen in this tenure where it was, for the most part, progressively negative. Like, a lot of people were frustrated, were confused, you know, on the player [? getting ?] in return of Matt Murray, in the actual trade itself, you know, why him, why that was going on. And Matt Murray to the Leafs has been something that's been talked about even back in June. Actually, Chris Johnson on TSN talked about the idea of perhaps the Leafs kicking tires on Murray.

And at that point, it was so confusing. I, for one, was confused. I didn't know why. Why is Matt Murray the person that we're going to, especially at the time where Jack Campbell, you know, that possibility of him returning was still there? So now that we're in a point now where Murray is part of the team, the reactions are kind of all over the place. There are some people that were real kind of positive afterwards, saying, you know what, like, the deal is kind of if. But you know what? Maybe he can kind of restart, he can rejuvenate himself a little bit.

There are those who were extremely negative. And I think the negative ones I've seen, especially out of frustration, were just, why does it make sense to acquire Murray when we just got rid of Mrazek? And that was another trade that a lot of these fans were not necessarily too pleased of, of Dubas trading a first, again, dropping 13 spots, getting a second round pick, and then, you know, having Chicago take that full-- that full contract. And then there were also some funny ones too, poking fun. You know, Matt Murray used to be a Soo Greyhound, so you know there's a Soo Greyhound/Kyle Dubas connection. But there are a lot of ways to think about this trade.