Jim Rutherford smirked when the idea was proposed to him.
Trade Matt Murray?
The Penguins general manager shook his head “no” while dismissing the notion.
This happened in late April 2015 during Rutherford’s end-of-season media availability following his first year with the Penguins, and Murray was in the midst of concluding a dazzling debut professional season with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton in which he shattered a handful of American Hockey League records.
A handful of Rutherford’s counterparts asked about the surprising prospect, but he never took any of their inquiries seriously.
More than half a decade later, Rutherford had no choice but to jettison the goaltender who led the franchise to its fourth and fifth Stanley Cup titles in 2016 and ‘17, respectively.
On Tuesday, just prior to the second round of the NHL Draft, Rutherford sent Murray to the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a second-round pick and mid-level forward prospect Jonathan Gruden.
The Penguins, who have only $4,718,158 of salary cap space, are believed to have pursued a first-round selection for Murray, who just completed a three-year contract with a salary cap hit of $3.75 million, but found no suitors.
“I won’t get into how many offers,” Rutherford said in a conference call with media Wednesday. “The fact of the matter is the goalie market is flooded with goalies. This was a long process. Been trying to get the goalie situation cleared up. I didn’t have an offer I could take until this morning. Based on where the market is, I think we did a pretty good to get a second-round pick and get a prospect in Gruden. It was the only offer for me to consider.”
A pending restricted free agent when the NHL’s signing period opens Friday at noon, Murray is expected to take over as the starting goaltender of the rebuilding Senators.
Murray had that role with the Penguins throughout his five seasons. Murray’s ascension eventually led to Marc-Andre Fleury, the franchise’s leader in most goaltending marks, to join the Vegas Golden Knights in the 2017 expansion draft.
Despite leading the Penguins to consecutive Stanley Cup titles — the first franchise to do that in nearly two decades — Murray never enjoyed the same success in his subsequent three seasons while battling injuries and inconsistency.
“I think there’s something in the mental part of the game and the pressures that fell on him when he was ‘the guy,” Rutherford said. “Those first two years, it was him and Fleury. They were good for each other. They had a very friendly competition going and they cheered for each other. Then, when you lose a guy like Fleury and you become just ‘the guy’ — and he had a very good backup in Casey but maybe not at the level of what Fleury did for him and pushed him and how he supported him — from a mental point of view, that maybe became a bit of an adjustment that never took full hold.”
Rutherford lauded Murray’s contributions to the franchise, particularly with regard to the championship seasons in 2015-16 and 2016-17.
“Matt maybe didn’t get the credit that he deserved or thought that he was going to get for being a big part of winning the (Stanley) Cup. In (2016), he won 15 of the first 16 (postseason victories). Then Fleury won the first two series in (2017)… then (coach Mike Sullivan) went back to Matt for the last two series,” Rutherford said. “But he deserves a lot of credit for us winning those (Stanley Cup titles). … Maybe he deserved a little bit more credit.”
In 2019-20, Murray lost the starting job to Tristan Jarry midway through the season before the duo settled into a platoon by the time the NHL halted play in mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic.
During the NHL’s postseason tournament, Murray opened the playoffs as the top goaltender but was benched in favor of Jarry for a must-win Game 4 against the Montreal Canadiens in a best-of-five qualifying round series. The Penguins lost that game and entered an offseason that has seen Rutherford already make considerable changes to his underachieving lineup.
Murray’s departure means Jarry and Casey DeSmith are expected to be the top two goaltenders on the organization’s depth chart when the 2020-21 season opens.
“I’m comfortable with both of them,” Rutherford said. “Tristan had an All-Star (season in 2019-20). He got rewarded, he played in the All-Star Game. Casey DeSmith, two seasons ago, he was very good for us. He had good numbers. So I’m comfortable with that. We may have to get a third goalie to keep an eye on. We’re always looking to see what’s out there and potentially how we can improve, all parts of our team. If we were starting the season tonight, I’d be fine with those two goalies.”
As for the draft, the Penguins loaded up on goaltenders with their first two selections. Using the second-round pick they acquired for Murray, they chose Finnish goaltender Joel Blomqvist No. 52 overall. That was followed in the third round by Swedish netminder Calle Clang, selected No. 77 overall.
The Penguins’ final three selections were forwards:
· Lukas Svejkovsky of the Western Hockey League’s Medicine Hat Tigers (fourth round, No. 108 overall);
· Raivis Ansons of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Baie-Comeau Drakkar (fifth round, No. 149 overall);
· Chase Yoder of the United States Hockey League’s U.S. National Team’s Development Program (sixth round, No. 170 overall).
· Gruden, 20, is signed to a three-year entry-level contract. A fourth-round pick of the Senators in 2018, Gruden is signed has a salary cap hit of $788,333.
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Seth Rorabaugh is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Seth by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
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