Maple Leafs Buyout Of Murray The Best Way To Address Toronto’s Cap Crunch

Now that we’ve arrived at the opening of the NHL’s player contract buyout period, the Toronto Maple Leafs should be wasting no time buying out goaltender Matt Murray’s remaining contract. Murray’s $4.687-million contract, which has one season remaining on it, is simply too pricey for the salary-cap-strapped Maple Leafs, who have more important players – and more reliable players – to invest in next season.

There were times last season when the 29-year-old Murray looked as though he’d figured his way out of the bleak past, one that saw him often injured and inconsistent between the pipes when he was healthy. But just as Murray got on a roll, he was knocked out from the lineup with one injury or another. The only thing he was consistent with was his fragile state of health.

That fact, along with the progression of Leafs rookie netminder Joseph Woll, has spelled the end of the need for Murray in Toronto. In a buyout of his contract, Murray would count only $687,500 in the 2023-24 campaign – a full  $4 million less than what he’s currently taking up on the roster. Yes, that dead cap amount rises to a $2-million cap hit in the 2024-25 season, but the NHL’s salary cap ceiling will almost assuredly rise at least that much in the next two years. The cost-benefit ratio makes a Murray buyout a much better option than a trade involving Murray.

And that’s if you can trade Murray’s deal at all. There aren’t any Stanley Cup frontrunners interested in taking a chance on Murray. And the only reason a non-playoff team would be willing to trade for Murray is if newly-minted Leafs GM Brad Treliving is willing to attach another asset to the deal – a high-end draft pick, or an above-average prospect.

That doesn’t make sense for Toronto. Why not just pay the financial penalty, worry about the cap implications next year when next year arrives, and keep a first-rounder or a Nick Robertson type of prospect? Treliving can easily afford a significantly higher-impact player by buying out Murray. Maybe he can keep veteran center Ryan O’Reilly with the help of that kind of money. Maybe Treliving can afford to keep young winger Michael Bunting with that kind of money.

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Woll looks to be a force on the rise, and he’s locked up for the next two seasons as a big–bargain, palindromic cap hit of $767,667. He and restricted free agent Ilya Samsonov will combine to cost in the area of $4-5-million next season – basically, the same amount they’d be paying Murray if they chose not to buy him out or trade him. That’s a luxury the Leafs simply cannot afford in their current cap crunch.

Toward the end of his first season in Toronto, Murray had his health constantly in question, and for good reason. Like recent predecessor Petr Mrazek, Murray came into Leafs Land with a label of being fragile, and like Mrazek, he lived down to that reputation. Buying him out is not a comment on Murray as a person, or as a teammate. It’s about the bottom line of winning at the NHL level, and it’s about his ability to be depended on to be healthy for most of the season.

Certainly, goaltenders appear more injury-prone in recent years. But that doesn’t mean teams have to keep going back to a well that too often is run dry. Buying out Murray and depending on a Samsonov-Woll tandem is what’s best for the Leafs, and any move that doesn’t bid Murray farewell for as cheap a cost as that of a buyout is entirely the wrong move.