Although plagued with injuries, Murray hasn’t been ruled out for the season and his LTIR status is simply a punt.
Although plagued with injuries, Murray hasn’t been ruled out for the season and his LTIR status is simply a punt.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have been down this road before.
When the club signed Calle Jarnkrok last summer to a four-year, $8.4 million contract, fans, experts, or anyone with an opinion was insistent that the team had to make a trade since they were over the $82.5 million salary cap for that season.
The Leafs did not make a trade. They opened the season with a minimum of 20 players on their active roster. Defenseman Jake Muzzin sustained a neck injury four games in and was placed on long-term injured reserve, effectively ending any cap problems they had for the remainder of the season.
What the Maple Leafs did on Wednesday is no different. Well over the $83.5 million salary cap set for this season, the club opted to announce that they will be placing oft-injured goaltender Matt Murray on long-term injured reserve (LTIR) before the start of the 2023-24 season. The announcement came amidst talk that the Leafs might buy out the goaltender. But since he was deemed injured, he could not be bought out and this is the course of action the Leafs decided to take.
Of course, there were references to the fact that Murray was deemed healthy at the end of the season. My tweets ahead of Game 4 of Toronto's second-round playoffs series with the Florida Panthers came back on my timeline as Leafs fans were quick to point out what they felt in their mind was a dubious claim by their favorite hockey club.
Regardless of how Toronto came to this conclusion, it is actually the best-case scenario for the club as it works its way out of a severe salary cap jam. Toronto doesn't have to deal with a salary cap charge of $2 million for the 2024-25 season and has effectively decided they are an LTIR team this season.
Is Matt Murray's tenure with the Maple Leafs finished?
The short answer to this is no. Although Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll are projected to be the No. 1 and 2 goaltenders for this season, Murray is still an option to the Maple Leafs in the event they need him.
Although Murray may start this season on long-term injured reserve, he only needs to sit out for 10 games and 21 days before he can be taken off the list. Teams do not need to be under the $83.5 million salary cap until the day before the regular season. Should Samsonov find himself injured and the Leafs have enough money in the LTIR pool to unlock Murray to the active roster, there is nothing outside of medical clearance that can stop them from doing so. Look no further than the Vegas Golden Knights who swapped out LTIR money all season long with various injuries to key players throughout the season.
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In 2021, the Maple Leafs used the flexibility of LTIR to get goaltender Frederik Andersen activated with one game remaining in the regular season after injuries to defenseman Zach Bogosian and forward Zach Hyman gave the team just the right amount of LTIR money to activate the netminder. With the cap flat this year, The Maple Leafs and Golden Knights aren't expected to be the only teams that look at this. Every helpful maneuver counts.
Murray doesn't necessarily have to go on LTIR just because the Maple Leafs announced it
The Leafs announced that Murray is out indefinitely and will be placed on LTIR before the season begins but things can change between now and October. The timing of their announcement came at 12 p.m. ET on Wednesday, the exact same time that the first step of Toronto's second buyout window would have initiated. At that time, the waiver wire is released, and had the Leafs opted to buy out Murray, he would have shown up on the waiver wire for that purpose.
Because the Maple Leafs do not have to be cap compliant until a day before the regular season, they can see how training camp plays out. If major injuries happen that force Toronto to use their LTIR in other areas, even in goal, and Murray is deemed healthy, they don't have to actually do it. Things can change.
Are there salary cap shenanigans going on? It all depends on how you define it. Unless the player speaks out against this and a medical team has determined that Murray isn't healthy, nobody is going to speak out against a tactic that has been long entrenched in the NHL's collective bargaining agreement. People have brought up reminders of 'Robidas Island' when a seemingly healthy Stephane Robidas disappeared with injury just before the start of the season. I do believe this is different. Unlike the other scenario, I can see a time when the Leafs may run into injuries. Samsonov played through injury last season. Woll returned from a lengthy battle with injuries in the middle of last season. While the Leafs certainly can't rely on Murray, it's not a slam dunk that they would be in a position where they didn't need him.
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