Matt Murray is having an amazing start to his Toronto Maple Leafs career, but we still need to be patient with him.
If you’re the Toronto Maple Leafs, you have nothing to complain about so far. Despite battling adversity through injuries, the team is arguably the hottest team in hockey.
However, we’ve seen this before.
For the past few seasons, the Leafs have continued to be one of the best regular season teams in hockey. They’ve continued to rack up points early and often, leading to an ability to clinch a playoff berth early.
At the pace they’re winning right now, they have a real chance at winning the President’s Trophy this year and should be one of the first teams to lock up a playoff berth.
One of the main reasons towards their success thus far is because of the play of their goaltenders, but most recently, the play of one netminder, named Matt Murray.
Toronto Maple Leafs Need to Be Patient in Net
In nine starts, Murray has been fantastic and played arguably his best game of the season against Dallas on Tuesday, securing a 44-save shutout.
I don’t want to crush the hopes and dreams of Leafs fans with this statement, although I’m sure their hopes and dreams have already been shattered from being a fan, but Toronto needs to be very cautious with Murray right now. I know he’s playing fantastic, but we’ve seen this narrative before, as early as last season with Jack Campbell.
It wasn’t that long ago that Campbell (who’s having an abysmal start to his Edmonton Oilers career) was everyone’s favorite netminder. The start to the 2021-22 season for him was magical and it eventually led to him being named to the NHL All-Star team.
Let’s have some fun and compare Murray’s and Campbell’s first nine starts from the past two seasons:
- Jack Campbell:
- 6-2-1 record, 1.88 GAA, .928 SV% (stats: hockeyreference.com)
- Matt Murray:
- 6-1-2 record, 2.34 GAA, .932 SV%
As you can see, Campbell was pretty spectacular last season too. However, his game faltered in the New Year and he couldn’t really get back to the player he was at the beginning of the year.
Confidence could have been an issue towards that, but it also could have been for the amount of games he was playing. Either way, Toronto needs to look at Campbell’s performance last year and make sure the same thing doesn’t happen with Murray.
Murray is clearing playing like the number-one goalie right now, but they should continue to weave in Ilya Samsonov whenever possible. In a perfect world, Murray should start a maximum of 45 games this year to conserve his energy and keep him fresh for the playoffs.
Game management has been an issue for the Leafs goaltenders over the past few years, but they’ve banked more than enough points right now that they could start Bubbles from the Trailer Park Boys and still make the playoffs.
We should all be excited and happy about Murray’s play thus far, but we do have to remember that it can change in a flash. As such, Toronto needs to continue to rest and keep Murray comfortable, as that will be the best way for him to succeed when the games mean the most.