Recent update has many believing the Maple Leafs are trying to circumvent the salary cap

Over the last few years both the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Vegas Golden Knights, have been accused of their misuse of long-term injured reserve. Both of those teams went onto win the Stanley Cup in those same seasons.

Now it appears the Toronto Maple Leafs could be following in their footsteps and have plans to circumvent the cap. Before the season the Maple Leafs placed Matt Murray on LTIR after he underwent surgery in October. Immediate reports had Murray out for the entire season

Now reports have surfaced that Murray has seen but setbacks and could even be "ahead of schedule to return". This news comes conveniently after the Maple Leafs placed Ilya Samsonov on waivers, due to his struggles.

The Maple Leafs put Matt Murray on their LTIR on July 26th, 2023. Now suddenly it appears, he could be set to return just shy of April right before the start of the playoffs.

Sounds familiar? Nikita Kucherov, Mark Stone familiar?

His contract being buried on LTIR has been a great relief for the Leafs while they empty their clip trying to find the right goalie combination, which as of now is Martin Jones and Dennis Hildeby.

While all reports had Murray out for the entire season, it now appears convenient that the multiple time Stanley Cup winner is suddenly on a path to return at the perfect time.