Toronto Maple Leafs: Could Kyle Dubas Reunite With His Junior Goalie?

Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Kyle Dubas has shown a definite tendency to seeking players he knows from his years in charge of junior team, the Soo Greyhounds.

Last season it was Jared McCann, Michael Bunting and Nick Ritchie all on the Toronto Maple Leafs roster at some point, all with that connection to Dubas’ junior haunt.

Looking at the current dilemma in between the pipes, you have to wonder whether there may be an opportunity for Dubas to look at a former Greyhounds goaltender, namely Matt Murray.

A lot obviously has to occur for this to even be a viable option, especially as the Toronto Maple Leafs have no space for a $6.25 million cap hit in their net, nor should they have any interest in paying that much money to Matt Murray.

Is It Even Possible To Get Matt Murray In Toronto Maple Leafs Colours?

The most obvious scenario that would see Murray available is one whereby the Senators retain 50% of his salary and the Leafs send Petr Mrazek in the opposite direction. Doing so would represent a $675,000 saving on the current Mrazek deal.

However, that leaves no wiggle room to bring Jack Campbell back, which you have to imagine is still very much something the Leafs want to fully explore. That is unless they’re going to shop the market for a completely different choice outside of Jack Campbell.

There is another alternative option here, but it’s one that is very much reliant on the Ottawa Senators to make a big decision, which under their previous owner would’ve been unlikely purely because of the cost involved.

However, given that Anton Forsberg and Filip Gustavsson essentially took over the Senators net, they might look to rid themselves of the expensive Murray contract more immediately.

Such an approach would save them $4.5 million this year and $5.5 million next year, but would then weigh them down with $2.5 million due the next two years following.

You might then imagine the Leafs could snatch him up on a much cheaper deal, especially with the past history between Kyle Dubas and the two-time Stanley Cup winner.

Imaging a scenario whereby the Senators release Murray, the Leafs pick him up for $1.5 million, rid themselves of Petr Mrazek and bring back Jack Campbell is certainly a bit of a fantasy land thought, but there is an element of believability to it.

When you look at Matt Murray though, you have to feel somewhat concerned by the fact he has a significant injury history and has had pretty ugly numbers the past three seasons.

Kyle Dubas certainly doesn’t mind looking back to his old stomping grounds when it comes to adding players. Perhaps Matt Murray can be another.