The Toronto Maple Leafs Are Shopping Goaltender Matt Murray
The Toronto Maple Leafs are currently $8.8 million over the NHL salary cap.
Once defenseman Jake Muzzin is on LTIR, the cap overage will be reduced by $5.6 million. That leaves the Toronto Maple Leafs still $3.2 million over the cap. (Salary cap info from capfriendly.com)
The Leafs can try to solve their cap situation by trading goaltender Matt Murray.
Murray has a cap hit of $4.68 million and trading him for a late-round pick is more beneficial than buying him out. However, the Leafs need to find a trade partner first.
Looking around the NHL, there are a few teams that could have an interest in Murray. At the time of this writing, the Ottawa Senators, Chicago Blackhawks, and Anaheim Ducks have only one goaltender on their active roster and enough cap space to add Murray’s contract.
Considering the Senators paid the Leafs to take Murray and are still retaining a portion of his salary, it is highly unlikely that they would want him back. That leaves the Blackhawks and Ducks. Both have plenty of cap space to add Murray and won’t require the Leafs to retain any of his salary.
The Toronto Maple Leafs will be looking to receive a late-round draft pick in return for Murray. Chicago has the Calgary Flames’ 5th-round pick and their 6th-round pick in the 2024 NHL draft. The Ducks own picks in every round of the 2024 NHL draft. The higher the pick, the better, but I wouldn’t be shocked if the Leafs traded Murray for a 7th-round pick.
Toronto Maple Leafs Still Need to Re-Sign Ilya Samsonov
Placing Muzzin on LTIR and trading Murray for a draft pick will give the Toronto Maple Leafs $1.48 million in available cap space. That will not be enough to get goaltender Ilya Samsonov re-signed. As the Leafs GM Brad Treliving joked during his press conference on Monday, the team will leave Bradon Pridham “locked in an office with no food or water until he makes the cap situation work.”
If either Nick Robertson ($796,667) or Pontus Holmberg ($800,000) start the season with the Toronto Marlies in the AHL, then the Leafs would have just over $2.2 million to re-sign Samsonov. The Leafs could have both players start in the AHL, which gives the team just over $3 million for Samsonov, but Toronto would have no room to carry an extra forward.
Next. The Biggest Winners and Losers in Free-Agency. dark
Another trade involving a player from the main roster is almost certainly bound to happen. The most likely candidates are Calle Jarnkrok and T.J Brodie who combined make almost $8 million dollars.