In today’s NHL rumors rundown, reports are coming out of Toronto that maybe the Maple Leafs always knew the injury status of Matt Murray. Meanwhile, have the Montreal Canadiens shown any interest in forward Max Comtois? Finally, are the Edmonton Oilers out of the woods when it comes to a potential offer sheet for Evan Bouchard?
Did Toronto Know that Murray Was Going on LTIR?
As per James Mirtle of The Athletic, he’s under the impression that the Maple Leafs may have always been aware that Matt Murray would be going on LTIR this coming season and that a buyout was potentially never in play. Mirtle writes that the way Elliotte Friedman worded the announcement of Murray’s “expected” LTIR designation and based on what some of his sources are suggesting, the Leafs knew all of this some time ago.
Mirtle writes:
Basically, Murray is now in a Jake Muzzin situation, where the remainder of his career is in doubt. As far as I could tell talking to other teams, the Leafs didn’t make an aggressive push to try and trade the Murray contract. Giving up a sweetener, as with Petr Mrazek last summer, isn’t ideal, obviously. Not when other avenues are on the table.
source – ‘Mirtle: What we’re hearing about the Maple Leafs salary cap and summer moves’- James Mirtle – The Athletic – 08/01/2023
He notes that an NHL league source also said that there have been cases where players with a much less extensive list of injuries have been placed on LTIR by other teams for a full season. There wouldn’t have been any questions from the league about the legitimacy of Murray’s case.
Maple Leafs and Samsonov Fine After Arbitration Hearing
Mirtle also notes that people he spoke with about the Ilya Samsonov hearing said that things were fine between the player and the team and that Brad Treliving did a good job of not letting the hearing become bitter and he remained very professional for a GM that had no real history with the player.
As for why it took going to a hearing in the first place, Mirtle suggests it was about the unrestricted free years the team was going to have to buy on a long-term deal and how that was going to be too expensive to negotiate now. He writes,
What prevented the Leafs from getting a longer-term deal done? Well, every year beyond the first one was going to be a UFA season for Samsonov. And given he’s coming off a big year, and will be the Leafs No. 1 to start 2023-24, those UFA years could get expensive.
The Leafs were likely looking at a $4.25 million cap hit on a two-year deal, $4.5 million on a three-year deal, and numbers that went up from there the longer the contract was.
Canadiens Have Not Reached Out to Max Comtois
As per Lyle Richardson of Spector’s Hockey, Max Comtois revealed that he’s been receiving calls from interested teams, but no contract offers have been presented yet. He mentioned that the Montreal Canadiens haven’t reached out to him.
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Comtois did not receive a qualifying offer from the Anaheim Ducks this summer and became a UFA. It’s not clear what he’s asking for in terms of dollars but he’s coming off of a contract that paid him just over $2 million per season. If he’s expecting to get anywhere close to that this season in a tight cap situation, that could explain why he hasn’t signed anywhere yet.
The Threat of Offer Sheet For Bouchard Over
While anything is still possible and the likelihood was never high anyway, Robert Tychkowski of the Edmonton Journal writes that the threat of an offer sheet from another team targeted at defenseman Evan Bouchard is likely gone. The scribe writes:
Edmonton appears to have already dodged the other potential grenade, an offer sheet for Bouchard, which could have blown up their world. If one was coming it would have happened by now. That saves their bacon this year, but it also kicks Bouchard’s situation down the road, similar to what happened with Darnell Nurse. They’ll have to bridge him, he will have already taken the home team discount and he will have more rights next time he goes to the negotiating table.
source – ‘Edmonton Oilers holding breath on Ryan McLeod contract’ – Robet Tychowski – Edmonton Journal – 07/31/2023
A bridge deal hasn’t been worked out yet between the team and the player, but one is expected to be announced in the coming weeks. There is a real concern in Edmonton that two seasons of Bouchard running the most powerful power play in the NHL is going to skyrocket his value over the next two years.
