Neither move was a surprise and Murray is Toronto's third goaltending option.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed defenseman Marshall Rifai and goaltender Matt Murray on waivers, according to several reports, including one from Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.
Both players were considered longshots to be a part of the team's 23-player maximum roster.
Murray, who is recovering from double hip surgery last year, is slated to be the team's third goaltending option this season. He'll benefit from getting into games with the Toronto Marlies, which he got a taste of at the end of last season.
The two-time Stanley Cup champion signed a one-year, $875,000 contract.
Rifai has had an excellent camp and has earned praise from Maple Leafs captain Auston Matthews for his commitment to the game.
"You can just see he wants it and just continues to progress, and I've been pretty impressed with him and just the way he plays hard on both sides of the puck," Matthews said of the rookie during training camp.
Rifai made his NHL debut last season and played in two games. During the summer, the Maple Leafs signed Rifai to a two-year contract extension at the NHL's minimum salary of $775,000 per season.
Unlike previous moves during training camp, the Maple Leafs did not state that these moves were made for the purposes of sending the respective players to the Marlies. While it's more than likely that will indeed be the case, players do not have to be assigned immediately after clearing.
There is still plenty of work for the Maple Leafs left to get under the NHL salary cap of $88 million and the maximum allowable roster limit of 23 players. They have until 5 p.m. ET on Monday to get there.
The Leafs are currently $1,069,667 over the cap based on a 23-player roster according to PuckPedia.com.
Scenarios include possibly placing forward Connor Dewar (shoulder) and Jani Hakanpaa (knee) on long-term injured reserve. There are also professional tryout contracts of forwards Max Pacioretty and Steven Lorentz that are expected to be converted into standard player contracts at some point.
Salary cap and roster room needs to be made.
Of course, there is also Timothy Liljegren, who has struggled at training camp and carries a $3 million cap hit for the next two seasons. And could there be more injuries?
More on what could be done is in the link below.
