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Leafs acquire Matt Murray

Last 2 years (Min 1500 FA)
sv%:
.901 (45th out of 52)
GSAx: -11.44 (38th)
5v5 sv%: .910 (37th)
5v5 GSAx: -9.05 (32nd)
pk sv%: .873 (27th)
pk GSAx: 0.41 (29th)

Last 3 years (Min 2000 FA)
sv%:
.900 (54th out of 62)
GSAx: -25.42 (55th)
5v5 sv%: .908 (46th)
5v5 GSAx: -23.82 (45th)
pk sv%: .879 (16th)
pk GSAx: 3.58 (19th)

Last 4 years (Min 2500 FA)
sv%:
.904 (44th out of 63)
GSAx: -25.5 (50th)
5v5 sv%: .917 (35th)
5v5 GSAx: -13.87 (41st)
pk sv%: .867 (36th)
pk GSAx: -2.86 (37th)
is that good
 
Last 2 years (Min 1500 FA)
sv%:
.901 (45th out of 52)
GSAx: -11.44 (38th)
5v5 sv%: .910 (37th)
5v5 GSAx: -9.05 (32nd)
pk sv%: .873 (27th)
pk GSAx: 0.41 (29th)

Last 3 years (Min 2000 FA)
sv%:
.900 (54th out of 62)
GSAx: -25.42 (55th)
5v5 sv%: .908 (46th)
5v5 GSAx: -23.82 (45th)
pk sv%: .879 (16th)
pk GSAx: 3.58 (19th)

Last 4 years (Min 2500 FA)
sv%:
.904 (44th out of 63)
GSAx: -25.5 (50th)
5v5 sv%: .917 (35th)
5v5 GSAx: -13.87 (41st)
pk sv%: .867 (36th)
pk GSAx: -2.86 (37th)

Literally makes no sense. Silver lining is Dubas drove down the cost of eating bad contracts.

i can't read this with Murray's 2 cup rings plugging my eyes.
 
As long as you have good players up and down the lineup, you can always find a way to make something work.

You want to add a guy for $1.5M and don't have the space? Give a 5th to the team and get them to retain 50%. Still need another $750k because you're fully capped out? Waive a fourth liner and replace him with a kid. Move Holl, lift everyone up a slot, and have some other guy as your 7th D.

Better to have lots of space to work with, sure. Moving Muzz and reallocating those dollars is the way to go. But even if they don't do that, they have lots of players they could move at any moment to make a move that improves us.
Or you could just use your $1.5m...and then do all of that to open up even MORE space to improve the team further.
 
Maybe they plan on outfitting him like Vasilevsky, with the over-inflated chest pad and XXXXXL jersey.
 
Or you could just use your $1.5m...and then do all of that to open up even MORE space to improve the team further.
I'm all for having it free and clear in the first place, and don't really understand why Dubie couldn't get that done.

But I'm not stressing over it. Who are all these awesome players we want to add? Other than Strome and Samsonov, I'm not excited much by the other UFA names. Maybe there are guys available in trade.
 
Here's the one positive thing I'll say.

Top end performance is important when evaluating a goalie imo. When you're looking at a goalie's track record and they've provided a high level of sustained performance (at whatever level), it's an obvious indicator that they're capable of it. For all of the "goaltending is voodoo" talk, the best examples of goalies being voodoo kind of underline this. Tim Thomas is the best voodoo practitioner of all time imo and he was elite across the SEL, Liiga, and AHL (.941 ffs) before getting a crack at the NHL in his 30's. Goalies don't come out of nowhere with .900-.910 junior and minor pro track records to wreck the NHL. If we look at what a rough consensus NHL top 8-10 would be right now, their track records always suggested that upside:

Vasilevsky: Was a top 10 goalie in Russia at 19, top 10 goalie in the AHL at 20
Shesty: Historic KHL performance at young ages
Sorokin: Near historic KHL performances at young ages
Kuemper: Uber stud in junior, immediately elite in the AHL at 21-22. Average plus in the NHL before injuries fucked him a few times in Minnesota. Mostly elite since he's hit his goaltending prime years of 27-28+
Helly: Historic NCAA performance, elite AHL performance at 21-22, immediately average to average plus in the NHL and then mostly above average to elite since
Saros: Historic age adjusted performance in Liiga, elite in the AHL at 20-21
Jarry: Flashed elite WHL performance young then tailed off. Flashed elite AHL performance at 21 then tailed off. Flashed fringe elite NHL performance at 24...wobbled back and forth, entering prime years now
Varlamov: Above average KHL goalie at 18, above average AHL goalie at 20, flashed elite NHL performance at 22
Markstrom: Elite SHL performer at 19-20, Elite AHL performer at 21-22, didn't sort his NHL shit out until 25-26. Been between average and very good for most of his prime

So I bring all of that up, to look at Murray through the same lens. Flashed elite in the OHL in his 19 yr old OHL season (late bloomer in junior...was kind of trash before that) but was fucking ridiculous in the AHL as a 20-21 yr old. Fucking ridiculous as in the best 20 yr old AHL performance ever ridiculous and then 4th best 21 yr old performance ever (Lehner, Bernier, Halak). Seamlessly (and famously) transitioned to the NHL as a .920 guy who had a habit of whipping his dick out at the most important times. Then was flat out terrible for 2 years (injury aided?). Showed signs of bounce back last season until getting pumped in his final 2 games (first one was against Tampa, 5 goals....but the 2nd one he got conky'd by Zaitsev and finished the game compromised...gave up 8).

Murray has that developmental track record you see on top goalies (and that you just largely don't on middle of the road tandem guys) and has a fairly obvious injury excuse for why his game fell apart...and then has a short streak of improved play that maybe shows him to not be baked yet. So there's some hope there. My concern is that even if everything above is right, Murray wouldn't be alone in having his prime years taken from him by injury among goalies. Lots of really good goalies were baked by ~28 and just never got it back.
 
Here's the one positive thing I'll say.

Top end performance is important when evaluating a goalie imo. When you're looking at a goalie's track record and they've provided a high level of sustained performance (at whatever level), it's an obvious indicator that they're capable of it. For all of the "goaltending is voodoo" talk, the best examples of goalies being voodoo kind of underline this. Tim Thomas is the best voodoo practitioner of all time imo and he was elite across the SEL, Liiga, and AHL (.941 ffs) before getting a crack at the NHL in his 30's. Goalies don't come out of nowhere with .900-.910 junior and minor pro track records to wreck the NHL. If we look at what a rough consensus NHL top 8-10 would be right now, their track records always suggested that upside:

Vasilevsky: Was a top 10 goalie in Russia at 19, top 10 goalie in the AHL at 20
Shesty: Historic KHL performance at young ages
Sorokin: Near historic KHL performances at young ages
Kuemper: Uber stud in junior, immediately elite in the AHL at 21-22. Average plus in the NHL before injuries fucked him a few times in Minnesota. Mostly elite since he's hit his goaltending prime years of 27-28+
Helly: Historic NCAA performance, elite AHL performance at 21-22, immediately average to average plus in the NHL and then mostly above average to elite since
Saros: Historic age adjusted performance in Liiga, elite in the AHL at 20-21
Jarry: Flashed elite WHL performance young then tailed off. Flashed elite AHL performance at 21 then tailed off. Flashed fringe elite NHL performance at 24...wobbled back and forth, entering prime years now
Varlamov: Above average KHL goalie at 18, above average AHL goalie at 20, flashed elite NHL performance at 22
Markstrom: Elite SHL performer at 19-20, Elite AHL performer at 21-22, didn't sort his NHL shit out until 25-26. Been between average and very good for most of his prime

So I bring all of that up, to look at Murray through the same lens. Flashed elite in the OHL in his 19 yr old OHL season (late bloomer in junior...was kind of trash before that) but was fucking ridiculous in the AHL as a 20-21 yr old. Fucking ridiculous as in the best 20 yr old AHL performance ever ridiculous and then 4th best 21 yr old performance ever (Lehner, Bernier, Halak). Seamlessly (and famously) transitioned to the NHL as a .920 guy who had a habit of whipping his dick out at the most important times. Then was flat out terrible for 2 years (injury aided?). Showed signs of bounce back last season until getting pumped in his final 2 games (first one was against Tampa, 5 goals....but the 2nd one he got conky'd by Zaitsev and finished the game compromised...gave up 8).

Murray has that developmental track record you see on top goalies (and that you just largely don't on middle of the road tandem guys) and has a fairly obvious injury excuse for why his game fell apart...and then has a short streak of improved play that maybe shows him to not be baked yet. So there's some hope there. My concern is that even if everything above is right, Murray wouldn't be alone in having his prime years taken from him by injury among goalies. Lots of really good goalies were baked by ~28 and just never got it back.

toronto-mapple-leafs-baby-bib-white.jpg
 
All of that above was why I mentioned Murray as a swing for the fences option as our 1B a few days ago....

Jesus titty fucking christ on a pogo stick is that a dumb move as our 1A though.
 
I hope there is some reverse juju or some shit and he absolutely slays next season. We need it at this point.
 
Last 2 years (Min 1500 FA)
sv%:
.901 (45th out of 52)
GSAx: -11.44 (38th)
5v5 sv%: .910 (37th)
5v5 GSAx: -9.05 (32nd)
pk sv%: .873 (27th)
pk GSAx: 0.41 (29th)

Last 3 years (Min 2000 FA)
sv%:
.900 (54th out of 62)
GSAx: -25.42 (55th)
5v5 sv%: .908 (46th)
5v5 GSAx: -23.82 (45th)
pk sv%: .879 (16th)
pk GSAx: 3.58 (19th)

Last 4 years (Min 2500 FA)
sv%:
.904 (44th out of 63)
GSAx: -25.5 (50th)
5v5 sv%: .917 (35th)
5v5 GSAx: -13.87 (41st)
pk sv%: .867 (36th)
pk GSAx: -2.86 (37th)

Literally makes no sense. Silver lining is Dubas drove down the cost of eating bad contracts.
fucking fugly. woof.
 
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