Quoting: RipNasty
TO unloaded a worse goalie with more term last summer for so much less than people said it would cost. Does that teach anyone anything though? Nope, right back to square 1. The goalie market is paper thin. Jarry might be the best option available and he's an often injured, inconsistent goalie. With many teams looking for goaltending help and not much available, Murray may be a much better option than people want to admit. Despite his "being a leaf so that means he sucks" status, he did play well when healthy and does have 2 cup rings. He's risky but he's definitely not bad.
We're not sayin he sucks because he play for Toronto dude, you really got to take that chip off your shoulder.
We're saying that whoever takes him on has to shell out $6 million in real money for his ~4.7 million cap hit. Murray is unavailable right now to the Leafs for the third time this year due to injury, I believe this time its lingering concussion symptoms, but earlier in the year it was hip issues. He only played 26 games this season, and lost his net to Samsonov while he was healthy. On top of not being reliably available, his play wasn't good either. Samsonov posted a .919 SV% and 2.33 GAA this season, Woll posted a .933 SV% and a 2.16 GAA, while Murray put up a 0.903 SV% and a 3.01 GAA behind the same team as the other two. League average this year was a 0.903 SV% and a 2.97 GAA.
So you are left with a guy who is only able to handle ~30% of the games per year, is not reliably healthy so you don't know what games he can start, is only league average when he is playing, yet is paid like a starter, and has trade protection to boot. Mrazek at least had recent NHL seasons where he was good, Murray has been at best average since the 18-19 season. There are 11 UFA goalies this season with comparable or better stat lines to Murray that at most will cost half as much as him, names including Korpisalo, Andersen, Hill, Varlomov, Jarry, Stalock, Raanta, Halak, Lyon, Brossoit, and Rittich.
Lastly, we are saying the trade comparable already exists, it was the Mrazek trade to Chicago, and I would bet Chicago would take the same deal again, provided there are enough spots between the Boston 2023 1st and their own 2023 2nd at 35th overall, if they are too close you might have to toss in a late round pick to balance.