Murray not looking too far ahead
Goaltending prospect Matt Murray had the kind of jaw-dropping, eye-bulging season for Wilkes-Barre/Scranton that could inspire a hasty promotion or premature ascent in the wrong hands.
That’s exactly why the Penguins envision him back with their minor league affiliate next year, continuing his journey to becoming the franchise’s goalie of the future.
This week’s development camp is as much about starting the process of managing expectations as it is about evaluating prospects without that September pressure, said assistant general manager Tom Fitzgerald.
“It’s easy to get real excited about a prospect like that,” said Fitzgerald after day two of the camp at Consol Energy Center.
“Managing expectations is huge in our business. We did not see that coming. We know he’s a good goalie. We knew he’d have some growing pains. No one ever expected him to be goalie of the year in the American [Hockey] League as a 20year-old. We still have to manage those [expectations].”
Murray is now 21, with the calm demeanor of an older man, and already has his elevator speech polished and ready to go when questioned about his expectations heading into training camp. It’s as tactful and smooth as a glove save read all the way in.
“At the end of the day it’s completely out of my hands,” Murray said. “I try not to focus on the depth chart, I just try to play my heart out every time I go on the ice, and the rest will take care of itself.”
He had the AHL’s best goals-against average (1.58), 12 shutouts and set a league record for longest shutout streak at 304.11 minutes between Feb. 8 and March 8.
The accolades followed. He won the league’s award for most outstanding goalie (Baz Bastien Award) and most outstanding rookie (Dudley “Red” Garrett Memorial Award), turning many heads along the way.
“He’s not coming in here and beating out Marc-Andre Fleury and taking over,” Fitzgerald said. “We love what we have down the line here, and it is down the line. He’s a 20-year-old goalie, just turned 21. Same with [Tristan] Jarry. We can’t expect Tristan to come in and do what Matt did.
“Quite honestly, I think it’s unfair to these guys to think that Matt could have the same type of year as he did last year. Seriously. How could he? So anything less than goalie of the year is a failure? No. We’ll do our best to manage those expectations and continue to grow and develop in the right direction.”
Murray said he knows there are areas in his game that need to be improved.
He has mostly worked on reading the play better and stepping farther out to cut down angles rather than relying on a last-second read from a deeper position.
“The biggest thing is being able to read the play, seeing things before they happen as opposed to after,” he said. “That’s something I worked on a lot last year. It just makes the entire game easier.
“The NHL is obviously the fastest and best in the entire world. You’re going to have to get pretty good at reading the play and almost getting one step ahead of the play.”