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Rumors percolating involving goalie merry-go-round; New Leafs Convo

September 3, 2020, 4:31 PM ET [479 Comments]
Mike Augello
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The Toronto Maple Leafs continue to be a central figure in rumors regarding goaltenders, and as the club ponders whether their future includes Frederik Andersen, the Leafs goaltender is preparing for the possibility that he will be playing elsewhere next season.

Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston reported on Wednesday that there's a good chance that Andersen will not be playing in Toronto next season. Leafs GM Kyle Dubas has been receiving calls on the 30-year-old netminder, who has one year left at a $5 Million cap hit and that the plethora of available goaltenders available in the trade and free agent market make it advantageous for Toronto to find a replacement.

TSN’s Frank Seravalli indicated that the Leafs are one of a half dozen teams that may have interest in goalie Matt Murray. Dubas and Pittsburgh Penguins GM Jim Rutherford consummated a deal for Kasperi Kapanen last week and the Pens are expected to move the two-time Stanley Cup winner, as both he and Tristan Jarry are restricted free agents.

Dubas and Murray have history going back to his days as GM of the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds, where Murray played four seasons. When the Leafs were negotiating the deal for Phil Kessel in 2015, the reported target in the deal was Murray, but Rutherford would not give him up and the Leafs settled for Kapanen instead.

Coming off his worst pro season and with the market chock full of goalies, the Leafs or whoever trades for the 26-year-old might be able to get him locked up on a long-term deal for an amount close to Andersen’s salary. One area of concern for Murray has been his durability. In four full seasons with the Penguins, he has not exceeded 50 games. Part of the reason for that has been chronic injuries, but also because Pittsburgh possessed excellent backups in Marc-Andre Fleury and Jarry.

Whoever is the starter for Toronto, it is expected that they will not be burdened with a 60+ game workload that Andersen has handled during his tenure. With many teams having success with a 1A – 1B scenario in goal, backup Jack Campbell will likely play in the 30-game range and not just in back-to-back scenarios.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman mentioned on a recent “31 Thoughts” podcast that Andreas Johnsson and William Nylander’s names have been mentioned in trade chatter, and that the Leafs received inquiries into the availability of Zach Hyman.

The Leafs may not want to move another winger on the heels of trading Kapanen and in the case of Nylander, will not want to deal the 30-goal scorer unless they get a top-four right-handed defenseman in return.

Hyman is one year away from unrestricted free agency and is coming off a career-high 21-goal season. Based on his value as a defensive and complementary forward to either Auston Matthews or John Tavares, it is likely that the Leafs will be looking to re-sign the 28-year-old before he hits the open market next July, but that would likely necessitate clearing cap space to do so.


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