GM Treliving with a surprising update on goalie Matt Murray
The goalie soap opera in Toronto takes another plot twist.
HockeyFeed
The Toronto Maple Leafs' goaltending situation has been an ongoing soap opera for years now, but this year things have really taken a dramatic turn.
Under former GM Kyle Dubas, the Leafs were constantly shuffling between netminders thanks to 'big brained moves' by Dubas. Move that, for the most part, have failed tremendously. Under Dubas the Leafs committed to and then walked away from the likes of Frederik Andersen, Michael Hutchinson, Garret Sparks, Jack Campbell, David Rittich and Petr Mrazek, Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov. Only Samsonov and Murray are still with the team and neither factor into the team's long-term or short-term plans. It's safe to say that literally every move that Dubas made with regards to the goaltending position was an abject failure.
This season under new GM Brad Treliving, the Leafs have seen the emergency of goaltender Joseph Woll but it's still too early in his young career to determine if he's the bonafide starting netminder that the team has been lacking for years. Veteran Martin Jones has been effective in limited appearances while Samsonov has been demoted to the AHL and Murray has been banished to the Injured Reserve for all of eternity. Or... has he?
When Treliving announced prior to the season that Murray would miss the entire campaign due to injury, the hockey world collectively rolled their eyes. After all, this isn't the first time that the Leafs have managed to bury their overpriced players on the injury reserve in order to save money against the NHL's salary cap.
Today though, Treliving provided an update on Murray's health to reporters and, honestly, it may end up complicating the team's situation even further.
According to #Leafs GM Brad Treliving, the recovery of Matt Murray has been positive, and he is "doing really well."
- The Toronto Sun
"He's got a ways to go, but everything has been really positive in terms of no setbacks. He has been on track and things are going well.
We just want to be careful. There's no pressure to get him going. We want to make sure he goes about it [properly] and when he's ready, he's ready. That's off on the horizon."
The prognosis when Murray had surgery was that he would be out for 6-8 months.
The Leafs' cap situation will likely prevent them from activating Murray from the IR during the regular season, but he could return to the lineup come the playoffs when the cap isn't in effect. It's an intriguing scenario given Murray's playoff success from his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins. But, how would it affect team morale if he swooped in to steal either the starting job or the backup job after the work that both Woll and Jones have done this season?
