Championship Goalie Reflects on Time With Maple Leafs

“I enjoyed ever second in Toronto, I absolutely loved it,” Murray said. “It was the honor of a lifetime to wear that jersey.”

Murray mentioned that the Maple Leafs have always held a special place in his heart and always will. The Maple Leafs were his dad’s favorite team and the first team he ever saw in person as a kid.

There was also some discussion regarding the amount of pressure the Maple Leafs’ players are under to succeed. Toronto hasn’t seen the Maple Leafs win the Cup since 1967 and they’ve routinely disappointed in the playoffs in recent memory.

Murray believes his time with the Pittsburgh Penguins helped him prepare for any pressure the Toronto fan base may throw at him.

“A big thing for me was, I went through a lot of that same type of stuff in Pittsburgh,” Murray said. “Pittsburgh is a very pressure-packed market, as well. Especially when we had a really good team there. If we lost like two or three games in a row, you’d start to feel the energy shift.”

Pittsburgh helped prepare Murray for a bigger market like Toronto, but he doesn’t mind the pressure wherever he plays.

“The only thing I did not like about Toronto was the traffic,” Murray quipped. “I was in my car way too much. Other than that I loved every second… To have my game-warn jerseys that I’ll be able to show my kids one day, and they got to see me play for the Leafs. That’s incredibly special for me.”

Through Murray’s 28 games with the Maple Leafs, he picked up a 15-9-2 record with a .901 save percentage and 3.05 goals against average. His last appearance in a Maple Leafs uniform was a 13-minute relief effort in Game 5 against the Florida Panthers.