The Pittsburgh Penguins and Toronto Maple Leafs already made a trade together a little over a week ago. Do we have another?

Trade winds are swirling and all eyes are on Pittsburgh and their goaltending as GM Jim Rutherford shops Matt Murray. Could the Leafs & Penguins swing a deal?@DarrenDreger on Murray's market and the #Yotes' push to re-sign Taylor Hall: https://t.co/KkBOYuoJwI#TSNHockey pic.twitter.com/r3OaOVslPZ

— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) September 2, 2020

What a Carolina trade offer for Laine could look like, Habs trade for Allen, the goalie market and more in my Rumblings blog: https://t.co/2IZJer66OI

— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) September 2, 2020

As for Matt Murray, there are many who thought Leafs GM Kyle Dubas would have wanted him as part of the trade made with Pittsburgh last week, the goalie and GM having a shared OHL history in the Soo. But my guess is the Leafs wouldn’t want to trade for a goalie without knowing if they could move Andersen. I did have an executive from a rival NHL team tell me this week that Dubas does have interest in Murray. So perhaps there’s a deal to be made there after all but later on.

The connection the two have from junior hockey is the only logical thing I can think of on why the Leafs would be interested in Matt Murray.

The Maple Leafs have famously paid their best players quite a bit of money. They don’t have money to throw around. Auston Matthews makes 11.63M, John Tavares is at 11.0M, Mitch Marner is at 10.83M, and William Nylander is at 6.96M. Spending another chunk of change on a goaltender who will want term and has been inconsistent seems like a terrible idea. If the Maple Leafs acquired Murray, give him a four-year 20M contract and he was average or worse it would be crippling. There is little correlation between spending money on goaltenders and results.

I'm planning on writing this up in more detail at some point during the off-season, but it's worth noting that there's virtually *no* relationship between goalie cap hit and goalie performance. You don't get better goaltending by paying more money.

— draglikepull (@draglikepull) September 1, 2020

A good example of how no one seems to know who will provide good goaltending: 6 of the top 8 goalies in SV% over the past four seasons (min. 100 GP) have played for at least two teams. Three have played for at least three teams.

4 of the 6 highest paid goalies in the NHL last season (and 8 of the top 13) were below league average in SV%.

Matt Murray could very well return to form. The problem is there are no guarantees. It is the same reason the Penguins are looking to move on from him. The risk is not worth the reward. Teams spending to the cap cannot whiff on goalie contracts. It is damning.

The Leafs would be better served to look at the Khubdobin’s and Greiss’ of the world. They will not command as much money and will also not command term. They are just as likely to give the Leafs league average goaltending. Corey Crawford on a one-year deal isn’t the worst idea. Money saved can be reinvested into their defensemen.

If the Leafs are dead set on wanting to buck up for a goaltender they would be better served waiting out the Robin Lehner situation in Vegas before making a move for Murray. He has legitimately been one of the best goaltenders in hockey. They could probably get him in the four-year 24M range and feel better about things than going the Matt Murray route.

All of these points are irrelevant to Pittsburgh. If the Maple Leafs want Murray who cares why. Get a little something back and move on.

Thanks for reading!

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