Leafs need consistency from their new unpredictable goalies

Here’s a hot take for you: the Toronto Maple Leafs might win the Stanley Cup this season.

Of course, they probably won’t: a) because, well, it’s the Leafs, and b) well, you’d always be wise in the long run to bet the field rather than any one particular team.

But if the Leafs do actually have any hope of pulling off their first Stanley Cup win since Lester B. Pearson was in office, they’re going to need a strong push from their two new goaltenders.

The Leafs, if you missed it, acquired both Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov this offseason: Murray in a trade from Ottawa and Samsonov on a one-year deal.

Whether it’s Murray or Samsonov in net for Toronto on October 12, it’s now three different opening night starters in three seasons for the Leafs, if you can believe it or not.

With Jack Campbell (and Frederik Andersen a year prior) now the Leafs’ goalie of the past rather than the future, the Leafs are in need of one (or both) of their netminders to have a strong year to help keep the team in contention.

Let’s dive a little into what to expect from the two new goalies.

Matt Murray

There was a time and a place where Murray being on the goalie market would’ve seemed unthinkable.

Murray had helped backstop the Pittsburgh Penguins to Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017, starting in 31 playoff games over the course of his first two NHL seasons while splitting the net on and off with Marc-Andre Fleury.

As you likely know, the Penguins opted to keep Murray over Fleury at the 2017 Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft.  Fleury was one of the NHL’s top goaltenders over the next few seasons, while Murray had a few growing pains after the hot start to his young career.

Eventually, Murray was shipped out to Ottawa in 2020, for Jonathan Gruden and a second-round pick in the 2020 draft, with Pittsburgh opting to keep Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith as their two main goalies.

When it was all said and done, Murray went 117-53-19 in 199 games with a goals-against average of 2.67 and a save percentage of .914 for the Penguins in his career.

In Ottawa, well, it wasn’t exactly the cleanest slate either, with Murray struggling with both injuries and on-ice performance over the past two years.

Murray had a 15-25-3 record in 47 games with a goals-against average of 3.23 and a save percentage of .899 for the Senators in his two-year Ottawa career.

There is room for optimism though: Murray is only 28, and clearly has shown the talent to be a star goaltending at the NHL level. For the Leafs, they can only hope he finds it once again.

Ilya Samsonov

Much like Murray, Samsonov was once a highly touted goaltending prospect.

Unlike Murray, he’s never really been able to pull it all together and establish himself as a #1 option. Samsonov was taken at 22nd overall in the 2015 draft by Washington and was likely anticipated to be the heir to the Braden Holtby throne after a few years of development.

Samsonov started the most games he’s ever played in at the NHL level last year, where he featured in 39 games (as well as five relief appearances). But it wasn’t exactly a strong performance on the whole: he had Samsonov had a 23-12-5 record with a goals-against average of 3.02, and a save percentage of .896 last year.

In total, the 25-year-old Samsonov is just 89 games into his NHL career, so there’s still plenty of time to hope for his development. For the Leafs, though, they can only hope it’s soon, as he’s on just a one-year deal worth $1.8 million.

Toronto’s likely to have strong seasons once again from star forwards like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and William Nylander, while the team’s defence group is — at least on paper — one of, if not the strongest opening day rosters in recent memory.

The Leafs scored 315 goals last season, good enough for second in the entire NHL. Barring a catastrophe, the offence should be electric for Toronto once again.

But as the old adage goes, it’s hard to win the Stanley Cup without a good goalie. For Toronto fans, they can only hope one of their two new guys emerges as such.

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