Matt Murray’s is out there in trade talks

In about a four week span, the Matt Murray situation has gone from strange to now even now beyond that.

Could a guy the Penguins envisioned being their franchise goaltender for the next 10 years be in a different uniform come next season?

Reality is it’s not crazy talk, multiple NHL sources say.

[hide] “We’re starting to hear some pretty soft rumors around him [Matt Murray],” Elliotte Friedman said Friday on Sportsnet960 Radio. Friedman also cited there’s something going on “between the ears” with Murray. [/hide]

Rumblings of Murray’s name being out there in trade talks started to surface around 10 days ago, league sources say, and whether Murray’s name was put out there by the Penguins or Murray’s camp is up for debate, General Manager’s are like hawks and once word got out that both sides are extremely frustrated with each other, inquiries have been coming in.

And the inquiries have piqued the Penguins interest enough [hide] where they’re not shutting down calls with Jim Rutherford said to be willing to explore scenarios, something unimagined a month ago.

Based on preliminary discussions with up to 4 teams, three in the Western Conference, Pittsburgh knows Murray would bring Pittsburgh a hefty return.

Young goalies like him who have won two Stanley Cups don’t hit the trade market which is what makes the trade talk unique, even if a trade in-season is highly unlikely.

Industry buzz is Jim Rutherford only focus is on a 3-4 year window here and believes when this group gets their act together, they can get by with average goaltending which has the Jimmy Howard speculation out there and keep in mind Pittsburgh also planned to trade for Jaroslav Halak in February 2017 if Pittsburgh and Calgary would have agreed to a Marc Andre Fleury trade.

Calgary by the way is one of the clubs checking in on Murray.

But, what would be Rutherford’s end game?

Go year to year with 35 year type goaltenders or roll the dice with Casey DeSmith?

Pittsburgh lost their ace in the hole from a long-term standpoint by including Filip Gustavsson in the Derick Brassard trade, a goaltending prospect there is a strong consensus will be a No. 1 goaltender.

Where things have soured between Penguins, Murray

So what is going on?

As reported here a few weeks ago, frustrations have been mounting in the Penguins organization towards Murray beyond just his level of play.

The coaching staff has pushed him to change the way he works off the ice and prepare for games.

That’s where tensions between the two sides initially heated up weeks ago as there’s been significant pushback from Murray that those close to the situation privately contend played a factor in his benching prior to him mysteriously going on injured reserve.

Mike Sullivan does not publicly bash players but indications are he had sense Murray developing a mentality that his poor play was on everyone else but him [Murray].

That is the type of stuff that will drive Sullivan nuts.

Sullivan, sources, say, is blunt and sometimes downright nasty with players in private conversations and he’s let Murray know about it on multiple situations.

Some players react well to Sullivan’s tough love, Jake Guentzel has been one in the past who does.

Others don’t and Murray hasn’t.

Whispers in the organization is Murray has felt disrespected by the organization with how he was by-passed for starts (prior to injury) and the team basically implying to Murray that he doesn’t work hard enough as one source indicated.

Petty stuff?

You can argue that but the relationship between the two sides needs to be fixed.

But, the interesting dynamic in all of this is how there is so much talk around the league that Murray is unhappy that whether Murray had asked out (he hasn’t) was getting speculated about among NHL insiders last week that some felt was initially driving this trade talk. [/hide]

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