Starter: Matt Murray
The Senators’ biggest acquisition of the offseason and their prized starter will undoubtedly appear in the teams opening night game versus Toronto on January 15th.
Despite being just 26-years-old, Murray has a wealth of experience and has appeared in 170 more regular-season games than all of the other Senators goalies combined. On top of his regular-season experience, the two cups that Murray has one with Pittsburgh and he knows what it takes to play at the highest level, something he can pass on to an inexperienced squad.
A goalie Murray’s calibre doesn’t just get traded for no reason, while there may be more to what meets the eye, Murray posted the worst numbers of his 5-year NHL career. His 0.899 SV% ranked 6th last among qualified goaltenders and his 2.87 GAA wasn’t inspiring either. Murray’s poor play would catch up with him and he would lose his starting gig to a hot Tristan Jarry who never relinquished the net. This would be a start of things to come for Murray in Pittsburgh, eventually leading to his trade.
Here’s a clip of Murray making a spectacular save in training camp:
Good morning from Matt Murray #Sens pic.twitter.com/sQbphTINHo
— Ottawa Senators (@Senators) January 6, 2021
In three out of five years in Pittsburgh, Murray owned a Save Percentage of 0.919 or better, the last time the Senators have had a goalie meet that mark was Craig Anderson in the 2016-17 season, they have been in need of a bonafide starter.
If Murray can return to form, he could easily raise his save percentage to 0.910 or greater, I won’t get too confident and pose an above 0.919 mark since the rebuilding Senators will likely yield a significant of chances.
2020-21 Prediction: 39GP 12-22-5 0.910 SV% 2.80 GAA