TORONTO– Matt Murray was placed on long-term injured reserve by the Toronto Maple Leafs on Saturday because of an adductor injury.
The goaltender was expected to start against the Ottawa Senators, but left the morning skate after the first set of drills after consulting with goaltending coach Curtis Sanford.
Murray is expected to be out for at least four weeks. He made 19 saves in his Maple Leafs debut, a 4-3 loss at the Montreal Canadiens on Wednesday after being acquired in a July 11 trade from the Senators.
“He’s worked hard and been healthy in the offseason, training camp and the preseason,” Toronto coach Sheldon Keefe said. “He’s worked hard and he hasn’t missed a beat and he’s felt good the whole way through. So it’s disappointing for him, obviously, for us. We want him to be healthy and we want him to be in the net , but these injuries happen and in recent seasons we’ve dealt with a lot of them in terms of goalkeepers, so we’ve signed two guys.
“We still have Erik Kallgren here, who did a good job for us and came in and there will be opportunities for others. He’s going to create opportunities for us within our roster with the salary cap ($82.5 million) and such , so there are things that come out of it that we can turn into positives.”
Ilya Samsonov made 26 saves in a 3-2 win against the Senators on Saturday. Kallgren was recalled from Toronto of the American Hockey League in an emergency manner to serve as Samsonov’s replacement.
Kallgren went 8-4-1 with a 3.31 goals-against average and .888 save percentage with the Maple Leafs last season. He suffered the injury in an AHL game on Friday, but was released on Saturday.
“I think we’re probably just thankful it’s not worse than that and we keep moving,” Toronto defenseman Justin Holl said. “You never like to see guys get hurt. It’s very painful both physically and mentally for guys, so I think we’re just thankful it’s not worse. He’s going to be a big part of our team and we’re going to need him.”
The Maple Leafs recalled forwards Wayne Simmonds and Nicholas Robertson and defenseman Victor Mete from the AHL on Sunday.