The Maple Leafs will finally get a sense of how far Matt Murray has come along when he takes the net for 40 minutes against the Canadiens.
Matt Murray was sure to temper expectations when talking about his first game in a Toronto Maple Leafs uniform.
“It’ll be cool for sure and I want to get the most out of it and prepare for Game 1 of the season,” he said. “That’s the first step towards that.”
On Wednesday night, Murray will play in a game for the first time since Mar. 5 when he his former team, the Ottawa Senators, fell 8-5 to the Arizona Coyotes. The goaltender was shut down for the remainder of last season after with concussion and neck issues, something that has plagued the 28-year-old throughout his tenure in Ottawa.
Despite obvious injury concerns, the Maple Leafs acquired Murray in a trade on July 11 when they had made the decision to move on from incumbent starter Jack Campbell as part of an overhaul of the goaltending position.
Rather than commit to Campbell, the club acquired Murray along with a 2023 third-round pick and a 2024 seventh-round pick from the Sens. Ottawa also agreed to retain 25 per cent of Murray’s salary, bringing the total cap hit to $4.875 million.
The difference between Murray and Campbell came down to term. The latter signed a five-year, $25 million contract to play for the Edmonton Oilers. Whereas Murray is only under contract for two more seasons.
But there was also a need for change. The club didn’t renew the contract of goaltending coach Steve Briere and hired former NHL goalkeeper Curtis Sanford to replace him.
With Murray, the Maple Leafs took on a risk, but they provided themselves some insurance by signing former Capitals goaltender Ilya Samsonov to a one-year, $1.8 million contract.
Toronto is making a big bet that they can restore Murray to his previous form, one of a goaltender who helped backstop the Pittsburgh Penguins to back-to-back Stanley Cup Championships in 2016 and 2017.
And they have been working meticulously with Murray since acquiring him.
The goaltender has spent nearly every day in their practice facility since his acquisition. He’s working in tandem with Sanford and lead goaltending evaluator Jon Elkin, who he’s known since Elkin was Murray’s goalie coach in Junior with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds.
“He’s got a presence and confidence about him,” Maple Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said of his goaltender.
The Leafs were careful
Murray has stated what he learned most about his Cup runs in Pittsburgh was to have a short memory. Perhaps that might best help him turn the page from what a humbling season that saw him get placed on waivers last season and go unclaimed.
Toronto also waited until now to put Murray in net, electing to use Erik Kallgren and Ilya Samsonov between the pipes for most of the doubleheader pre-season action on Saturday.
“It gives us a little extra time for Murray to get going,” Keefe said.
Murray will play for 40 minutes on Wednesday. It’ll be hard to take much away from it. But given how Samsonov faired in his 40 minutes on Saturday night by making 16 saves on 16 shots, the bar is high.
And for a two-time Stanley Cup champion, it really shouldn’t be any other way.
Where to watch
The game between the Maple Leafs and Canadiens will start at 7 p.m. ET and will be broadcasted nationally on Sportsnet One.
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