Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford got the most he could in trading goaltender Matt Murray to the Ottawa Senators.
After winning back-to-back Stanley Cups, Murray’s play wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great either.
Murray suffered from lack of consistency and last season spent a large number of games on the bench while Tristan Jarry played and was named to the All-Star team.
With a saturated market for goalies this offseason, Rutherford getting a 2nd round pick for the Pens and a prospect in forward Jon Gruden, sorry, Jonathan Gruden, is a good move.
Murray gets a second chance with a young team in Ottawa. At 26, he can jump start his career again and get back on track.
It was time to make the move, Jarry had outplayed Murray and even if that wasn't clearly the case, the salary cap forced a change.
Murray came from relative obscurity to take the job away from likely the Pens goalie in Pens history, Marc-Andre Fleury. Now Murray suffered a similar fate.
To quote the football coach Jon Gruden "You never stay the same. You either get better or you get worse."
Jarry got better.
After only posting a save percentage of .887 in 2018-19, Jarry posted one of .921 last season.
After two impressive seasons with the Pens, Murray posted save percentages of .907, .919 and .899 in the past three seasons respectively.
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