Quoting: MatthewsFan
The only bad thing about the Murray deal was the Leafs not extracting a higher pick/prospect or more retention (or a 3rd team to retain) in the deal. I don’t mind the gamble on a guy who has won two cups. Goalies are voodoo
Bobrovsky won 2 Vezinas, why didn’t you take a gamble on him instead lol? Leafs fans will soon come to realize that winning 2 cups 5+ years ago means literally nothing, just as Sens fans have, and Pens fans before us lol. He’s been well below average for 3+ years. And yeah, the Leafs should’ve extracted a higher pick, because he’s making almost 5mil against your cap even with Ottawa retaining. That’s still low-end starter/1A money (think Lehner, Sorokin), which he hasn’t shown he can be since 18-19. Samsonov is a good gamble, because he’s young (with high pedigree), cheap, only on a one year deal, and a change of system could do him good. Murray is not a good gamble because he’s expensive, has 2 years remaining, and has been bad for 3 years on 2 different teams, plus he’s injury prone.
Quoting: aadoyle
Well Murray is healthy Talbot is not and if Murray figures it out and puts up good numbers its a Toronto W. And if he doesnt we paid nothing for him so its still technically a Q
Either way its a better situation then not having a 1b for 7 weeks
If is the key word there lol. As mentioned above, he hasn’t been good for 3 years on 2 different teams. He’s had a shake-up that “motivated” him and still flopped again. And as soon as you rely on Murray staying healthy, you’ve already lost lol. You may have
technically paid nothing for him in the trade (and actually acquired a pick), but the opportunity cost of using 5mil cap space and one of your 2 goalie slots on a guy that i not very likely to succeed is HUGE. Talbot is by far the better bet, because he’s been a relatively average goalie for several years (track record of being decent at worst, unlike Murray who has a track record of bring bad), is cheaper, and only has one year remaining, so you can pivot easily next summer if it doesn’t work out. If Murray magically reverts to his 2016-17 form, then yeah, it’ll be a W. But the odds of that happening are very low. You can’t assume the best case scenario, you have to look at the likely scenario, and the likely scenario is that he’ll be mediocre and probably get hurt once or twice.
Also on Talbot being hurt, that’s not that big of a deal, since I honestly like Forsberg more anyway, he was great for us last year (iirc he had a .917 sv% and was like 12th in GSAX). If Murray goes down, you’re relying on Samsonov, and you can ask Washington fans how they felt about their goalies last year lol. I think he’s a better bet than Murray, but there’s still no guarantee he becomes a good starter.