The Leafs may have lost their safety net, but nothing really changes

If you had thought that Matt Murray was going to somehow do what he did in Pittsburgh so many years ago and lead the Maple Leafs to a Stanley Cup, I don’t know what to tell you.

In an ideal world, he was never — never — going to play meaningful minutes in the playoffs. So him possibly being done for the year with yet another concussion doesn’t really change anything.

This is still Ilya Samsonov’s net. It has been all year. Now, Samsonov is just operating without a safety net.

Although, that really depends on what you thought of Murray. And, more importantly, what you think of Justin Woll, who now becomes Toronto’s new backup goalie.

After all, Woll does have better numbers than Murray this year. And at his age, the 24-year-old is at a point in his career where goalies start to emerge. What he doesn’t have is experience, having played in less than 10 career games so far.

The good thing is that like Murray, no one is expecting Woll to be in net when the Leafs play the Tampa Bay Lightning in the first round. If that happens, it means something happened to Samsonov.

So who knows, maybe GM Kyle Dubas managed to dodge another bullet.

Really, it’s all about can you hold Tampa Bay to two or three goals per game. That’s the job. Just be good. Because as great as Andrei Vasilevskiy is for the Lightning, the Leafs still have the firepower to put up a ton of offence and win this series no matter who is in net and how many goals they allow.

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In hindsight, it’s easy to suggest that maybe the Leafs should not have traded for Murray last summer.

After all, it’s not like they didn’t know about his injury troubles.

Then again, looking at the other options at the time, who would you have rather had?

Jack Campbell? Darcy Kuemper? Marc-Andre Fleury?

How about Cam Talbot? Or Craig Anderson?

All of them were pricier. And none of them were necessarily better.

Yeah, Dubas gambled and is now paying the price. But at least he gambled on two goalies — not one. And based on the numbers, you can’t complain with what the Leafs have received from Samsonov.

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With Murray now out, I wonder if that also takes him out of the running as Toronto’s Bill Masterston Memorial Trophy nominee?

Heading into the final month of the season, it was easy to see how Murray would be a favourite for the award that recognizes perseverance and dedication to the sport, having overcome a slew of injuries this year and in the past. But with him once again recovering from what looks like yet another concussion, my vote would go to 39-year-old Mark Giordano, who has turned back the clock with his performance this season.

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It’s an end of an era in Washington, with the Capitals having been officially eliminated from the playoffs.

Let’s take a moment to recognize what was an incredible run by Alex Ovechkin and Co.

The Capitals had qualified for the playoffs in eight straight seasons, as well as 14 of the past 15 years. That’s impressive. Especially for a team whose captain was constantly considered a coach killer and a bad leader before he eventually led Washington to its first-ever Stanley Cup in 2018.

Funny how that narrative has changed.

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Here’s a stat that shows just how meaningless — and excruciatingly long — the regular season is.

Going back to Nov. 27, Toronto and Tampa Bay have been locked in to play each other in the first round of the playoffs. That’s more than four months and 100 days! It’s also more than 75% of the season where we’ve known the first-round match-up.