Matt Murray Vetoes Deal to Buffalo
Every year on draft day, the lead-up to the night’s events is filled with rumours and media-driven trade scenarios. And for the past few years at least, much of this fueled trading frenzy has culminated in nothing.
If lowering the expectations of big trades occurring is supposed to be reasonable learned behavior, we should be taking publicized trade rumours with a grain of salt.
But, holy shit is that ever difficult.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman got things going by reporting that the Senators had engaged in deep discussions with the Buffalo Sabres in regards to goaltender Matt Murray.
Shortly thereafter, other major personalities chimed in to share more information on the trade that fell through.
After general manager Pierre Dorion spent part of his media availabilities yesterday articulating his comfort in carrying three goaltenders on his NHL roster yesterday, it turns out that the front office may be more desperate to shed Matt Murray than we have been led to believe.
How desperate?
Take it away, Darren Dreger.
Now obviously, the only parts of the deal that are out in the public realm are the two draft selections and Matt Murray. There may (and likely) were more pieces of the deal involved, but the trade ultimately fell through because of a modified no-trade clause. Murray had Buffalo listed as one of the 10 teams that he could not be dealt to.
It is easy to wonder why a general manager would waste a ton of time and energy trying to put to finalize a trade only for a player to veto it, but it probably speaks to how undesirable Murray and his contract are at this time. There simply are not a lot of places he can go and if Ottawa presented this to him as an opportunity to get out of town, this was his chance.
Without knowing all of the involved pieces, it makes it more difficult to analyze. From LeBrun’s tweet about Buffalo weaponizing cap space, it certainly looks on the surface like the Senators were trying to use one of their most coveted and useful assets to rid itself of Murray and the two years and $15 million that is left on his deal.
If this was the case, it is a gross misuse of a valuable asset to shed the roster of another one of Dorion’s mistakes and what ultimately is a relatively short-term problem. With $27 million in cap space already and only restricted free agent Josh Norris being the only unsigned talent who should be expected to command a significantly large raise, the Senators should theoretically have a lot of money to work. (For what it’s worth, CapFriendly reports the Sabres as having $34 million in space. In other words, after a Murray deal, the Senators would essentially have a similar amount of cap space to where the Sabres are currently.)
Unless they don’t.
The internal budget has always been a topic of conversation since the Senators stopped spending at the upper reaches of the cap ceiling. Today’s proposed Murray deal may just underscore how important management believes it is to improve the team’s competitiveness within its limited budget. In that way, it kind of reminds me of how the organization packaged a second-round pick with Mika Zibanejad for Derick Brassard. The Senators sent two valuable assets to the Rangers because they had reservations with Zibanejad’s makeup and his future contract projections. So, Dorion flipped the asset for an inexpensive veteran centre who they had hoped could preserve the team’s competitiveness by playing at a level similar (or greater) to what Zibanejad offered.
By dangling its seventh overall selection attached to Matt Murray’s contract, the Senators are obviously desperate enough to free up money to reallocate towards other areas of need.
Adding Claude Giroux would be huge for the organization, but the reality of the situation is that it still seems like the Senators’ budget for players is still incredibly small and it is going to impact their ability to surround their young core with capable veterans as this team improves.
For an organization that should be desperately trying to reinvigorate its fan base and instill confidence in its organizational hierarchy now that Eugene Melnyk has passed, this failed trade will not help.
And for a general manager who has made so many personnel mistakes over the past few years and desperately needs his next major deal to be an indisputable win, this was not it.