Toronto Maple Leafs Making the Most of Matt Murray Injury
During practice on Saturday morning, Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray left early with some discomfort. That discomfort turned out to be an adductor injury.
Due to the injury, the Toronto Maple Leafs placed Murray on long-term injury reserve (LTIR). He will be out for a minimum of four weeks. In his absence, Toronto has recalled goaltender Erik Kallgren on an emergency basis.
Kallgren will be the Maple Leafs’ backup until Murray returns. The earliest he can return from LTIR is November 8th, when Toronto hosts the Vegas Golden Knights. He will miss a total of ten games during that time. Murray being on LTIR does come with a silver lining to it. According to capfriendly.com, Toronto gains $4,687,500 in salary cap relief.
Toronto general manager Kyle Dubas did not waste much time using that relief. On Sunday, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced that they recalled forwards Nick Robertson, Wayne Simmonds and defenseman Victor Mete. They are some much-needed reinforcements that offer head coach Sheldon Keefe a few new options for his lineup.
Toronto Maple Leafs Without Matt Murray for Four Weeks
The Maple Leafs net now belongs to Ilya Samsonov, who has a 2-0-0 record this season. Depending on how he performs in the next couple of games, Samsonov will get eight of the ten games Murray is out for on LTIR. Over the next four weeks, the Toronto Maple Leafs play two sets of back-to-back games.
During their upcoming trip through California, the Leafs will play back-to-back games on October 29th (Los Angeles Kings) and 30th (Anaheim Ducks). Toronto will then have back-to-back games on November 5th (Boston Bruins) and 6th (Carolina Hurricanes). Backup goaltender Erik Kallgren will get to play one game in each set of back-to-backs.
The call-ups of Robertson, Simmonds and Mete give Toronto some flexibility within their lineup. Robertson had a great training camp but got sent to the AHL because he doesn’t need to clear waivers.
The Toronto Maple Leafs were actively shopping Simmonds to give him a chance to play in the NHL with another team since he failed to make the Toronto lineup out of camp. The call-up could be a good chance for him to showcase himself to other teams. Mete gives Toronto another option on defense. It will be interesting to see how all three respond to their recent call-up.
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Toronto’s next game is Monday night against the Arizona Coyotes. We will have to wait and see if Sheldon Keefe makes any changes to his lineup. I would like to see all three call-ups get a chance to play, but it might not happen right away.