It turns out that Matt Murray has been dealing with a nagging hip injury and just had a successful surgery to repair it.
As a result, Murray is expected to be out of commission for at least six to eight months. This confirms what Brad Treliving told the media at the start of training camp about the severity of the injury and why he is going to be placed on LTIR before the beginning of the regular season.
This forthcoming move will be part of a series of other transactions that will help get the Leafs to be cap-compliant before the start of the 2023-24 campaign. In addition to Murray, Jake Muzzin has already been reported out for the year, Conor Timmins will be out week-to-week, Sam Lafferty was traded to Vancouver on Sunday to clear his $1.15 million salary, and six players headlined by Martin Jones were placed on waivers in the leadup to today’s 5 p.m. deadline to get a cap compliant roster.
Once all of these moves get processed, the Leafs should have just under a million dollars in cap space available which will be just enough room to sign Noah Gregor to a league-minimum contract. Should they plan on keeping Fraser Minten as well, I would expect to see Pontus Holmberg get sent down to begin the year.
Murray appeared in 26 games for the Leafs and went 14-8-2, posting a .903 SV% and 3.01 GAA in that span. He was originally acquired last summer in a trade with the Senators which also saw Toronto acquire two draft picks in exchange for future considerations.
Stats from Hockey-Reference.com. Salary information from CapFriendly.More must-reads: