Matt Murray refuses trade on Draft day, prefers to move to Toronto or Edmonton

The Buffalo Sabres wanted goalie Matt Murray, but the Ottawa Senators netminder had other plans. On Thursday, Murray declined to waive his no-trade clause for a move to the Buffalo.

It was reported that the two teams had a deal lined up that would have seen the two teams flip first-round picks, with the Sabres moving up No. 7 for the No. 16 overall selection, with the Senators also retaining salary. Murray, however, has Buffalo on his 10-team no-trade list and declined to waive for the move.

This happened before the Senators pulled another significant trade, dealing the No. 7 overall pick the Chicago Blackhawks as part of their package to land winger Alex DeBrincat.

The failed trade does not mean that Murray won’t be moving this summer. According to TSN’s Darren Dreger, Murray is open to being traded to either the Toronto Maple Leafs or the Edmonton Oilers.

And so the goalie carrousel keeps turning with Murray wondering where he might land.

The Maple Leafs have just made some room on their cap space by trading goaltender Petr Mrazek to the Chicago Blackhawks on Friday night. They didn’t retain any of Mrazek’s salary in the transaction. This could however mean that GM Kyle Dubas will talk to pending unrestricted free agent netminder Jack Campbell, who was previously presumed to have priced himself out of Toronto.

If ever Toronto strikes a deal with Campbell, Murray might have to turn to the Oilers, though they are too interested in the Leafs’ pending free agent.

Murray could definitely benefit from a change of scenery. He was limited to just 47 starts over his first two seasons in Ottawa since signing a four-year, $25 million contract with an average annual value of $6.25 million.

Last season, he put up a .906 save percentage and 3.05 goals-against average in 20 games while missing a chunk of the calendar with an upper-body injury.