The Toronto Maple Leafs are getting strong goaltending from Matt Murray in the AHL with the Toronto Marlies.
The 30-year-old goaltender stopped all 27 shots he faced on Wednesday night against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 3-0 win. Murray improves to 4-1-2-1 and has a .931 save percentage, the best on the Marlies this season.
“That’s great for him and the Marlies. This guy’s got a lot of experience and he’s won,” Maple Leafs head coach Craig Berube said on Wednesday night. “So, you know, like I said, we’re going to look at everything and make some decisions.”
Murray signed re-signed in Toronto this summer, inking a one-year, $875,000 contract with the club on July 1. The veteran goaltender has played 11 games within the last year after having bilateral hip surgery in Sept. 2023.
He signed with the Maple Leafs in hopes of an opportunity to return to the NHL. With Anthony Stolarz out four to six weeks with a lower-body injury, Murray may get a call up given his strong play to begin the season.
“When I refer to the depth, it’s not just one guy. We’ve got three guys that have been playing well [with the Marlies],” Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving said on Tuesday when discussing Toronto’s depth in goal.
“Dennis (Hildeby), obviously, had a tremendous year there last year, played well in his time up here. That’s why we have Matt too, right? That’s why we brought Matt there.”
At this point, the Maple Leafs have no reason to send Hildeby back to the Marlies. The 23-year-old netminder stopped 24 of 27 shots on Sunday in a 5-3 win over the Buffalo Sabres. And he’ll likely get one of two games in Toronto’s back-to-back this weekend.
