Can Toronto Maple Leafs Overcome Loss of Matt Murray?

If you thought the Toronto Maple Leafs had goaltending questions before, wait until you see where they are now.

With less than one full week in the books in the 2022-2023 NHL season, the Maple Leafs are already dealing with a major injury. Starting goaltender Matt Murray was placed on the long-term injured reserve (LTIR) over the weekend and will miss at least four weeks.

The 28-year-old made his Maple Leafs debut in their season-opener, but he’ll now have to wait to play in his second game. Many people around the hockey world felt that Toronto had already taken a gamble on Murray, but now this team could really be in a goaltending predicament.

The Maple Leafs will be fine without Matt Murray.

The good news for Toronto is that the regular season is driven by offense, and the Leafs have no shortage of that. Whether it’s Murray struggling or his replacements trying to find their footing, this Auston Matthews-led offense is built to score three, four, or five goals per game.

If this injury doesn’t linger for the Leafs and their two-time Stanley Cup champion netminder, then I have no concerns about this team right now. If Murray’s injury does linger throughout the season, Toronto may be in some trouble.

While Murray has not been the best version of himself in recent years, the potential for him to play the way that he did for the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017 (hopefully) still exists. If that version emerges, the Maple Leafs could reach new heights this year.

However, if Murray is out for the long term, and that potential is no longer in the lineup, that could prove to be a major blow to the Leafs.

Until Murray is healthy, Ilya Samsonov and Erik Kallgren figure to be the ones tasked with taking his place.

Samsonov, who played in 89 career games with the Washington Capitals, is 2-0 since taking over. He has posted a 2.00 goals against average and a .926 save percentage in those two games.

Losing Matt Murray in the short term will not be detrimental to the Maple Leafs, but this certainly is not where they expected to find themselves one week into the season.