TORONTO – Matt Murray believes his father, his hero – the late James Murray – looked down with a smile, proud to see his son represented as the Toronto Maple Leaf.
“To think so. I mean, my first hockey game was a Leafs game with him,” Murray said Tuesday during his first press conference in Toronto, via Zoom from Ottawa.
“That was his favorite team. This was my favorite team to watch growing up. So yeah of course I think he’ll be super happy.
James became ill and died in January 2018.
The good news: He got to see that little goaltender born in Thunder Bay, Ont., with whom he shared trips to practice and nights on the couch watching the Leafs grow to become two-time Stanley Cup champions.
Now this childhood Leafs fan will get a chance to experience the other side of the battle for Ontario, as his planned four-year commitment to Ottawa was cut in half on Monday night when he was traded to Toronto.
Murray, 28, maintains there are “no bad feelings” between him and the Senators regime, which waived him last season and paid Leafs GM Kyle Dubas third- and seventh-round picks to absorb 75 percent of Murray’s remaining salary.
But he also twice declined to give his thoughts on why things went sideways in the nation’s capital.
Murray, like all good goalkeepers, prefers to stay in the present. Focus on the next one.
Joining the Cup-dreaming Maple Leafs team is experiencing a homecoming of sorts.
Murray personally heeds the guidance of John Elkin, who has led the Leafs’ goaltending development and scouting program since he was 10 years old.
“He just knows me,” Murray said. “Knows how to push me.”
And Murray’s strong ties to Dubas and head coach Sheldon Keefe, for whom he played as an OHL stud in Sault Ste. Marie, meet the transition.
After what Murray described as a “tense” few days — turning down a potential deal with Buffalo, getting to Toronto for a medical, then ultimately jumping from the crowded fold of a rebuilder to a No. 1 contender — the soft-spoken netminder wanted to announced his excitement before taking questions.
“I am extremely motivated. I think I have a lot to prove. And I think coming in here, this is where I wanted to be,” Murray said, emphasizing his excitement. “It’s all about trying to be the best I can be. I think Toronto is a great place for that.
“I can’t wait to join a team with such great players, staff, organization, fan base. Everything about this team is top notch.”
The biggest concern about the trade is twofold: Murray’s recent inability to stay healthy and stay consistent. The two go hand in hand.
Once among the elite at his position, Murray is now three years removed from (a) carrying the workload of a starter and (b) posting a save percentage above the league average.
There were concussions and neck ailments. Undisclosed lower body injuries and undisclosed upper body injuries. That’s why Dubas wanted his own doctors to check under the hood before signing the deal Monday night.
The Maple Leafs have three months to get their new acquisition in the best possible shape, mentally and physically, for the premiership.
Since the deal became official, Murray’s phone has been buzzing with calls from multiple units of the Leafs’ extensive support staff, “willing to help with literally every aspect of my move and just really simplify things.”
So while Murray and his wife Christina, his high school sweetheart, peruse Realtor.com for a new home in Toronto, the goaltender is already making plans to meet with an array of Leafs staff to maximize medical, nutritional, strength and conditioning benefits provided by one of the most profitable organizations in the NHL.
“I’m just super, super excited,” Murray said. “My time in Ottawa, I don’t think it went the way anyone expected. But at this point, I’m really focusing on the present and the near future.
“This is a great group. I mean, there are so many great players on this team. And they’ve obviously had a lot of success over the last few years.”
Yes, somewhat.
What most of them haven’t achieved is the Stanley Cup success Murray reaped early in his career, those remarkable runs that taught him a marathon is a step-by-step process.
The first step: Find a new home and move your family to Toronto.
The second: go to the gym.
The third: Put on the same sweater he loved as a boy, sitting next to dad, and go win some hockey games again.
“We watched games together,” Murray said. “So to be able to put that shirt on for the first time, I think it’s going to be something really special for me.”
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