The Toronto Maple Leafs look like Stanley Cup contenders lately and Matt Murray has a lot to do with that.
There wasn’t a Toronto Maple Leafs fan who wasn’t a little skeptical (OK, maybe one) when the team decided to make Matt Murray its starter this season, but he’s currently living up to expectations.
After allowing four goals in his debut, Murray got hurt and missed roughly a month of action. For a player who’s suffered many injuries in the past, we all thought this was the beginning of the end.
In Murray’s absence, Ilya Samsonov stepped in and looked brilliant and we all forgot about Murray. Then Samsonov went down and Erik Kallgren stepped up, posting an elite 5v5 save percentage over ten games (even if his overall numbers were hurt by bad penalty killing).
Since returning from injury, Murray has started six games and has yet to lose in regulation.
Based on his recent play, Murray is making Kyle Dubas look like the smartest executive in hockey.
Toronto Maple Leafs: Matt Murray on His Way to Becoming a Vezina Candidate
Murray has only played in seven games so his sample size is a lot smaller than the rest of the league, but he clearly looks like the elite goalie we all remember from the Pittsburgh Penguins’ Stanley Cup run.
For example, here’s how his stats compare from those years (stats: hockeydb.com)
- 2015-16 season:
- 9-2-1, .930 SV%, 2.00 GAA (13 Games Played)
- 2016-17 season:
- 32-10-4, .923 SV%, 2.41 GAA (49 Games Played)
- 2022-23 season:
- 5-1-1, .927 SV%, 2.44 GAA (7 Games Played)
I know that he hasn’t played a full season yet but he’s trending in the right direction. Despite playing so well to start the season, Toronto cannot play him like they played Jack Campbell or Freddie Andersen in the past.
This likely isn’t a worry, because the Leafs will want to be cautious with the injury prone Murray, and furthermore, Samsonov all but won the job in his absence, so an even split when they are both healthy makes the most sense.
If both goalies are healthy, they still need to split starts (for the most part) even if one goalie is rolling more than the other. Toronto has banked more than enough wins lately and have shown that they can even with with Erik Kallgren in net, so rest is almost as important as two points because this team is going to make the playoffs.
If Murray can keep this play up for the majority of the year and start enough games, he’ll definitely be in the Vezina conversation. He’s currently top-six in both GAA and SV% thus far and seems to be getting better with each start.
It’s still early, but Murray is making every Toronto Maple Leafs fan who thought it wouldn’t work eat their words, including me, and we couldn’t be happier. Go Leafs Go.