Sensible Commentary
Joined: Jul. 2016
Posts: 910
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Matt Murray for Jack Campbell.
The Leafs haven't had a trustworthy back-up goaltender to Frederik Andersen since... Curtis McElhinney, of all people, left town. The dude's consistently played in >70% of the team's games since he got there, and I wouldn't be surprised if it's started to wear on him. They need a competent back-up to be able to fill in for games where Andersen can't play. Jack Campbell might be it, but I don't think anybody's that sold on the idea.
The Penguins are cutting salary and generally can't afford to pay both Murray and Tristan Jarry what they're worth. Sure, Murray's had a bad couple of seasons, but he also won 2 Stanley Cups as a rookie, and we saw the kind of leverage that got Cam Ward throughout his career in contract negotiations. The Penguins don't really have that kind of money to toss around at the moment. The consensus seems to be that everyone thinks Murray is the one leaving town at the moment, so the next question is, of course, where does he land?
Now, why would the Penguins want Jack Campbell (outside of the obvious "there's only room for 2 goalies on a roster")? A fairly easy answer: cost certainty. He's signed for 2 more years, and it's all base salary with no bonuses. The Penguins don't have to spend time in RFA negotiations with Campbell like they would with Murray and Jarry, and he'll ultimately be cheaper than whatever money they'd have to pay Murray.
Why would the Leafs want Matt Murray? A not-so-obvious answer. He's been kinda bad for the last couple of seasons, as previously mentioned, and, by bad, I mean bad.
But! He's clearly been good before, good enough to win 2 Stanley Cups (and also AHL Rookie of the Year, Goalie of the Year, as well as breaking the AHL shutout streak record).
And, of course, where did Matt Murray play junior hockey? With the Sault. Ste. Marie (now just Soo) Greyhounds. From 2011 to 2014. When Kyle Dubas and Sheldon Keefe were, respectively, the GM and head coach of the Greyhounds.
If there's anybody that knows Murray well enough to maybe help him get back to how good he used to be as a goaltender, it's Dubas and Keefe. And they might know something that we don't, enough for them to take a roll of the dice on it.