The Toronto Maple Leafs have moved goaltender Matt Murray to long-term injury reserve following the acquisition of forwards Ryan O'Reilly and Noel Acciari Friday night, according to multiple reports.
CapFriendly.com, which was first to report the news, projects the Maple Leafs to have $4.4 million in available cap space through the LTIR pool with a total salary cap hit of $88.8 million, $6 million above the salary cap ceiling. Once third-string goalie Joesph Woll and his $766,667 salary are returned to the AHL, the Maple Leafs will have enough room to activate Murray and his $4.6 million salary when he is healthy again.
Murray last played Jan. 17 and was placed on injured reserve Feb. 9 with an ankle injury. Long-term injured reserve requires a player to miss 10 games or 24 days meaning Murray won't be eligible to return until at least early March.
The trade deadline is March 3.
Head coach Sheldon Keefe said Friday, before the O'Reilly deal was announced, that there was still no timetable for Murray's return.
"I think he's progressing well," Keefe said. "He has been putting in some consistent work. Ankle is still not at the point where it's allowing him to do everything that's required to play goal in terms of his movements."
In addition to the Murray move, CapFriendly.com reports that forwards Pontus Holmberg and Wayne Simmonds were re-assigned to AHL Toronto to make room on the 23-man roster for O'Reilly and Acciari. Simmonds had cleared waivers earlier in the week.
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