The Toronto Maple Leafs have a Matt Murray problem on their hands.
A goaltender who played mediocre for the club in just 26 starts in 2022-23, missing out on the team’s postseason, and suffering several injuries throughout the campaign. The Toronto Maple Leafs netminder currently has 1-year left on his deal at $6.25 million AAV (average annual salary) along with a base salary of $8 million, a number that could make his contract untradable to practically every team, except one, the NHL’s third richest franchise, the Montreal Canadiens.
Since Brad Treliving was announced as the 18th General Manager of the Leafs following the departure of Kyle Dubas, many names have been speculated as good fits for the team following another disappointing season.
With the Leafs set to lose several players in free agency along with multiple massive decisions with their star players, the team has to make a decision on Murray and the team will have to be creative in finding ways to ditch his contract.
The Only Way The Toronto Maple Leafs Should Trade For Josh Anderson
TSN’s Chris Johnston blasted a tweet following Treliving’s hiring, which claimed Johnston had heard Treliving was heavily interested in bringing Josh Anderson to Toronto.
A false report that had no base or legitimacy to it, Johnston would tell the person to “get a life,” marking it as completely false. Although it was shot down, and at the risk of Johnston blasting me for going down this path on a false report, let’s have some fun with it.
After all, that’s what Leafs fans live for: hypotheticals.
Realistically, an Anderson trade doesn’t make any sense for the two teams unless three things happen: the Habs recognize former GM Marc Bergevin made a mistake with the contract, the team is okay retaining salary, and the Leafs regain draft capital they desperately need.
There are still four years with a $5.5 cap hit on Anderson’s contract.
In this hypothetical deal, all those boxes are checked and the crazy hypothetical get’s achieved.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have had an issue finding big bodies who can play top-six roles, something Anderson has proven to do in big moments for the Habs in the past.
Hypothetically speaking, the Leafs could intrigue the Habs by calling about a contract they’d like to get off, offering them 1 year of Murray, and asking for a sweetener in the upcoming draft to take the remaining four years of the deal at a retained salary.
The Habs currently hold 11 selections in the 2023 NHL Entry draft while the Leafs hold just three, making the hypothetical Murray for Anderson at a reduced salary and multiple draft compensation a realistic possibility given the Leafs need to recoup some draft capital.
As for why the Toronto Maple Leafs would entertain the idea of adding Anderson you may ask? The 29-year-old has posted multiple 19+ goal seasons playing with lesser talent than Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, William Nylander, and John Tavares, a number that could hit the 25-30 mark with a full season alongside a core four member.
In the past, the Toronto Maple Leafs would have dealt significantly valued draft picks, see the Patrick Marleau trade before the 2020 NHL Draft, to move off high-salary contract, similar to Murray to give them flexibility for the season ahead.
Rather than following what hasn’t worked in the past and losing a young Seth Jarvis for nothing, why shouldn’t the Leafs explore acquiring a draft pick to help a team get off their bad value contract and try to find a diamond in the rough in the process?
If for nothing else, wouldn’t it be entertaining to watch a Hockey Night in Canada Saturday game between the Habs and Leafs where Anderson posts a big hit, a fight, and a game-winning goal against his former club?