If your rational for why acquiring a goalie is good is because “if he’s bad they can acquire another goalie” it’s a bad move.

You’re arguing that acquiring a goalie is good because they can acquire a different goalie. Then why not get the other goalie first?

hes calling it a bet for a reason. its not because they are already going to get a different goalie. its if murray does well then its a fantastic trade. if he doesnt, its easy to move on

Why not acquire the other goalie first then? Doesn’t that make more sense

They aren't able to buy him out until June 2023 at this point - the 2022 offseason buyout window is closed.

If they *did* buy him out of the last year of his contract, it would be in June 2023 and give them a $687,500 penalty for 2023-24 (so saves $4M) and would have a $2M penalty in 2024-25. Not the worst gamble to take, but really depends on if Samsonov becomes a good starter. Otherwise you're really going to be swimming in the same budget-goalie waters again next summer - even if you assume every one of those $4M saved dollars gets dedicated to a new goalie, who are you getting? The goalie class next summer is pretty underwhelming - you've got Tristan Jarry and Freddie Andersen as the top guys who almost definitely sign for more than a $4M AAV, then either a bunch of younger guys with iffy track records (Alex Nedjelkovic, Kevin Lankinen, Adin Hill) or over-35 guys who might not be starters anymore (Semyon Varlamov, Cam Talbot, James Reimer, Jonathan Quick). Almost seems like you'd be better in 2023-24 rolling the dice with Murray/Samsonov again, barring an unexpected trade.

I still don't like the move to go with Murray but I hope he proves me wrong.

What I still don't get is not getting OTT to retain more salary or moving the 3rd rounder they got to get another team to retain salary. Murray at 2,343,750 would have made it a lot easier to make roster decisions right now instead of being right up against the cap with Sandin still unsigned.

if Murray wasn't a Leaf, there wouldn't be a single leaf fan that would compliment his play

What i should have said this is why it is low risk.