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Senators Acquire Matt Murray from Penguins |
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"Where there's smoke, there's fire." After weeks of speculation, the Ottawa Senators announced today that they have acquired goaltender Matt Murray from the Pittsburgh Penguins in exchange for Jonathan Gruden and the 52nd overall pick in this year's draft.
Ultimately, given the volume of draft capital they had available, the cost to acquire here is relatively low from Ottawa's perspective. Even with that being said, though, paying for goaltending at this stage of the competitive cycle seems like a questionable decision. It's quite clear that the team a) isn't comfortable with Anders Nilsson's health situation, and b) isn't convinced that there's a gem to be found in the mountain of goaltending prospects already in the system.
In Murray, the Senators have acquired a two-time Stanley Cup champion with an up-and-down history. Recent injury concerns led to a sub-900 save percentage season for Murray in 2019-20, and his career history before that shows a mix of very good and very average results. Ottawa just has to hope that they are getting the Matt Murray of 2018-19 or 2016-17, rather than the Matt Murray of 2017-18 or 2019-20.
Regardless of how things work out in the long-term with this move, it does solidify the goaltending situation in the short-term. Bruce Garrioch is already reporting speculation of a three-year contract extension, even though the team doesn't have a contract in place with Murray yet. We know who will be manning the Senators' crease for 50-ish games next season now; we didn't before. From the perspective of stability, that's a good thing for a team that's going to be integrating a lot of young, inexperienced talent this year.
As always, thanks for reading.
Ottawa Senators Blogger • 
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