By Dillon Collins, feature writer
Looking back on his career, Matt Murray calls his introduction to the NHL both “surreal” and “unexpected.”
Drafted 83rd overall by Pittsburgh in 2012, he was outstanding in his first full season of pro hockey with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, setting an AHL record for the longest shutout streak at 304:11 and setting a record for most shutouts by an AHL rookie goaltender (12). He earned his first NHL call-up just 10 days shy of Christmas 2015. He started 13 regular-season games with Pittsburgh, winning nine of them and posting a .930 save percentage and 2.00 goals-against average.
Then, with Marc-Andre Fleury dealing with post-concussion symptoms as the playoffs began, Murray stepped in to start 21 of the team’s 24 contests as the Penguins went on to edge San Jose to win the 2016 Stanley Cup. Murray had only just turned 22 during the Eastern Conference final.
The following season, the Penguins repeated as Stanley Cup champions. Murray started 47 games, earned a slot on the NHL’s all-rookie team and finished fourth in Calder Trophy voting. In the playoffs, he won seven of 10 starts after replacing a hot-and-cold Fleury in the conference final and finished with a sparkling 1.70 GAA and .937 SP.
The back-to-back Cups gave him an understanding of the true cost of success at an elite level.
“It taught me a lot about winning, but also about the sacrifice and the price of winning,” said Murray, now 31. “And there is a major, major price. All that stuff, I’m sure, accelerated the wear and tear on my hips. I was basically in shambles the whole time physically, so there’s a major price to winning like that. But there’s no better feeling once you get through it.”
The Penguins traded Murray to Ottawa on Oct. 7, 2020. However, his tenure in Canada’s capital was short-lived, as the Sens flipped him to division rival Toronto in the summer of 2022. With injuries mounting, Murray only suited up for a combined 54 NHL/AHL regular- and post-season games over the next three seasons.
But his hip issues dated as far back as his pro debut in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton nearly a decade prior.
“The unfortunate part about when you’re dealing with injuries, the way I have, is that most of the time your energy is going towards fighting those injuries or fighting back from those injuries,” he said. “At the time, I was probably 21, maybe even 20 years old. It just sounds a little early to be having double hip surgery.”
Murray’s choice to take on the “pretty severe” bilateral hip surgery on Oct. 9, 2023, came at the cost of nearly the entire 2023-24 season. But it was a boost to his quality of life.
As he entered the summer of 2024 fully healthy for the first time in his professional career, the then-30-year-old Murray opted to re-sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs. This summer, he signed with the Seattle Kraken, reuniting with former colleagues Jason Botterill, Lane Lambert and goalie coach Colin Zulianello.
He now has a chance to rediscover his game and play meaningful minutes with the AHL’s Coachella Valley Firebirds while providing depth at the NHL level alongside Joey Daccord and Philipp Grubauer.
“You want to be in an environment that you enjoy going to every day and where you’re going to be put in a position to have some success,” Murray said. “I knew that’s what I would get with the people here. I think that’s all you could ask for as a player.”
Reflecting on his decade in the pros – filled with pleasure and pain, and the highs and lows that have dominated his career – Murray has one key piece of advice for his younger self.
“Chill out and enjoy it,” he said. “I think you learn that as you get older. If you’re young, you’re full of energy but also full of nervous energy and some anxiety. That would probably be the main thing. Just chill out, enjoy the ride. And that’s what I’m doing now.”
This is an excerpt of a feature that appeared in The Hockey News' Prospects Unlimited issue. We profile plenty of top prospects such as Macklin Celebrini, Connor Bedard, Zeev Buium and Marco Kasper.
Elsewhere in the issue, we take a look at each NHL team's prospect pool, and we explore several PWHL teams, as well as features on the AHL, ECHL and the NCAA.
You can get it in print for free when you subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/Free today. All subscriptions include complete access to more than 76 years of articles at The Hockey News Archive.