Most fans expected a buyout, but on Wednesday, it was confirmed that instead, the Toronto Maple Leafs had placed goaltender Matt Murray on long-term injured reserved prior to the start of the season.
The funny thing is that Murray served as backup in the team’s second-round playoff series against the Florida Panthers. However, he is now reportedly out indefinitely, though the Maple Leafs did not provide details on the injury.
Hence the start of a scandal in Toronto as many believe the Maple Leafs are pulling a sham to get more space on the salary cap. When the team made the announcement on Murray ending up on the LTIR, it did not take long for fans and pundits to question the move.
Back in May, Murray spoke to the media in the exit interviews and claimed he was healthy and ready to go in 2023-24.
“My goal is to maintain the kind of level that I was playing in November and December and maintain that all season,” Murray said. “If I can do that, we’ll be in good shape.”
For now, the Maple Leafs are still just under $2.1 million over the cap for next season, per Capfriendly, with $85.5 million committed to 22 healthy players for next season.
Toronto keeps looking to free up cap space after Ilya Samsonov was awarded a one-year, $3.55 million deal in arbitration, on top of the many moves it made during free agency, adding Tyler Bertuzzi, John Klingberg, Max Domi and Ryan Reaves to the roster.
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