Can Matt Murray be great again?

Matt Murray shot to stardom, winning back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Penguins but his career has faltered since. Kyle Dubas is taking a massive risk bringing him to Toronto but can Murray respond to the pressure and return to the form he had in Pittsburgh?

Video Transcript

- It's not necessarily Matt Murray that I had an issue with. You know, goaltending in the League has been crazy for-- since the beginning of time. You have one goalie that's great one year and then just falls off the face of the planet the other year. And when it comes to Matt Murray, he is a goaltender who literally shot up to stardom very quickly, got two Stanley Cups-- back-to-back Cups-- with the Pittsburgh Penguins, and you know, hasn't really been too great after that.

My issue is with the actual trade itself because Ottawa needed to make this move. They've been trying to make this move. They needed to get the cap space. They've been making deals left and right. They're trying, you know, to free up space to sign Claude Giroux. So they needed to make this deal. So Kyle Dubas had all the leverage.

And it's really frustrating that the Leafs are only getting a 25% retention on the salary. So instead of, you know, the 6.4 cap hit, it's about a 4.69. So it's like, ah, like, where's the sweetener? And then when you think-- you know, when you look at the other parts of the deal, a third-round pick in 2023, a seventh in 2024, it's like, where's the sweetener?

And maybe I did it to myself. I thought Connor Brown would be the sweetener. See, here's proof, right? But, I guess, seeing the whole deal, seeing, you know, the lack of retention, the picks, I had-- it's kind of a tough pill to swallow.

But that still doesn't change the fact that I think Matt Murray could be an interesting bet. And if you're Kyle Dubas, this is gonna be a huge bet. I mean, this is it, right? I mean, as far as trying to find a goaltender, this has to be the last stance. We're in the end game now.

And Matt Murray talking to the media recently actually kind of capitalized that a little bit. He knows what he's getting into. And I think from all the things he said, there are two things that kind of came to mind. First, that one, he was a Leafs fan growing up, back in Thunder Bay, Ontario. So you know he has the passion. That's great. That's awesome.

And two, he's motivated. He's familiar with the team. He's familiar with the system. And, I think, in Toronto-- no disrespect to Ottawa-- I think we do have a lot of the resources to ensure that he can have a better season. The new goalie coach in Curtis Sanford is gonna be huge for that. Again, one of the reasons why the Leafs wanted him in the first place is because of the work he did with Thatcher Demko.

Now if you can take Matt Murray and bring him back to what he was in Pittsburgh and not just, you know, not just an OK regular-season goalie, but a goalie that can show up in the playoffs, and if you're a team like the Leafs where the playoffs are the only thing that matters, I can understand the perspective. I can understand Kyle Dubas wanting to take a risk on this.

However, it is a risk. And we can't just accept first-round losses over and over again forever. And I think if-- it's funny. I said this last year, next year has to be the year. It has to be the year where there is some results in the playoffs.

And Kyle Dubas thinks that Matt Murray's gonna be the one to do it. At first, I was apprehensive. But now I'm on that train as well. And you should be too. Give him a chance. Give him a shot. Matt Murray was great once. Who knows, maybe he can be great again.