The Toronto Maple Leafs surprised many with the decision to place veteran goaltender Matt Murray on the LTIR, but it appears none of those people were within the organization.
No surprise at all
According to a recent report from James Mirtle of The Athletic, the Leafs knew what they were doing all along, as they made no significant push to try and move him.
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.
With Jake Muzzin on LTIR as well, the Leafs have managed to get themselves out of salary cap hell, but still find themselves needing to make several moves ahead of the 2023-24 season.
A solid career coming to an end?
The speculation is now that the Maple Leafs waited so long to make this move in case a goaltender-needy team out there offered them a good deal for Murray, but with the injuries piling up, this was always the move.
With Ilya Samsonov and Joseph Woll on the roster right now, the Leafs are in a solid position, and while there's no confirmation, it appears the career of a two-time Stanley Cup winner could slowly be coming to an end.