Fantasy Impact: Ottawa Acquires Matt Murray

Dobber

2020-10-07

The Pittsburgh Penguins traded goaltender Matt Murray to the Ottawa Senators for Jonathan Gruden and the 52nd overall draft pick.

The Senators get: Their starting goalie. Murray will be their starting goaltender of the future if he can stay healthy this season. Murray will be their stopgap solution if he gets hurt – yet again – this season. Yes, the three-time Cup winner Matt Murray is a bit of a Band-Aid Boy. And by "bit of", I mean "most definitely".

The Penguins get: A salary cap solution, a contract solution (Murray is a restricted free agent), and a goalie-controversy solution. Plus a good draft pick and a longer-term prospect.

Fantasy Impact: Tristan Jarry just went from a split starter and likely 40-game candidate to the de facto No.1 guy in Pittsburgh and potential 60-game guy (we'll still talk in 82-game season terms, for the purpose of our analysis). His value skyrockets. By the same token, Murray also gets to start 60 games…but it would be more like 40 or 45 as he struggles through the inevitable injuries. If he does manage 55 or 60 games…it is unlikely that many of them will be wins, since Ottawa is not expected to start winning just yet. For the longer term, Murray needs to show that he can stay healthy. If he can, then he has the chance to be the starter in the long term for a team that will eventually be done their rebuild and could be a strong, competitive team for years to come. But it will be a lean couple of years for Murray owners until that point.

Here is an H2H stat comparison of Jarry vs. Murray

Meanwhile, owners of Anders Nilsson are in a great spot. Nilsson is an underrated goaltender and he could have ended up being a backup behind an iron man. Instead, he'll be behind a goalie who struggles on the ice (the past two years) as well as with injuries. Nilsson could make a sneaky buy-low as a dark horse who can get in 45 starts if bad luck befalls Murray. Nilsson isn't without his issues, though. He is recovering from a concussion that cost him the last half of last season.

Jonathan Gruden (profile here) is ranked 418 on my Fantasy Prospects list. He is about four years away.

Fantasy Players this helps, in order:

📢 advertisement:

Tristan Jarry

Matt Murray

Fantasy Players this hurts, in order:

None

Leave A Comment

UPCOMING GAMES

May 16 - 20:05 FLA vs TOR

Starting Goalies

Top Skater Views

  Players Team
ANDREI SVECHNIKOV CAR
AUSTON MATTHEWS TOR
NIKOLAJ EHLERS WPG
MITCH MARNER TOR
WYATT JOHNSTON DAL

Top Goalie Profile Views

  Players Team
CONNOR HELLEBUYCK WPG
FREDERIK ANDERSEN CAR
STUART SKINNER EDM
CHARLIE LINDGREN WSH
JOSEPH WOLL TOR

LINE COMBOS

  Frequency BOS Players
20.2 DAVID PASTRNAK ELIAS LINDHOLM MORGAN GEEKIE
14.6 PAVEL ZACHA FABIAN LYSELL MARAT KHUSNUTDINOV
13.4 CASEY MITTELSTADT VINNI LETTIERI COLE KOEPKE

DobberHockey Podcasts

Keeping Karlsson: KK Leagues Report – 2025 Champs!

Derrick talks to the big winners of the various Keeping Karlsson leagues from this past season. He’s first joined by the new KKUPFL Ultimate Champion Ian and the reigning fast-track winner Alec. Then Derrick is joined by the year 1 KK Dynasty League champions Ian (different Ian), Saqib, and Brett, aka the “Good ol’ Ottawa Boys”.

Fantasy Hockey Life: Anaheim Ducks with Derek Lee

Derek Lee of the Hockey News is here to report on the Anaheim Ducks. Jesse and Victor interview him about returning pros Troy Terry, Mason McTavish, Trevor Zegras, Frank Vatrano, Leo Carlsson, Cutter Gauthier, Sam Colangelo, Jackson LaCombe, Olen Zellweger, Pavel Mintyukov, Radko Gudas, Jacob Trouba, Lukas Dostal, and John Gibson. In Cat’s Instincts, Cat […]

Fantasy Hockey Life: Fluto Shinzawa Boston Bruins Preview

Fluto Shinzawa of the New York Times joins the show to break down the Boston Bruins. Jesse and Victor ask him about David Pastrnak, Morgan Geekie, Pavel Zacha, Elias Lindholm, Casey Mittelstadt, Matthew Poitras, Fraser Minten, Charlie McAvoy, Mason Lohrei, Hampus Lindholm, Jeremy Swayman, and Joonas Korpisalo. Cat’s instincts covers prospect goalies Brandon Bussi and […]

Fantasy Hockey Life: TIDY Champs Roundtable

What does it take to win a division of our Tiered Dynasty league? Champs Sasha, Scott, Kevin, and top tier champ Mason Black join Victor, Jesse, and TIDY co-commish Simon for a roundtable chat. It’s a great dynasty strategy talk. Have a listen! Our show is part of the Dobber Podcast Network and sponsored by […]

FIND US ON FACEBOOK

📢 advertisement: