Matt Murray a rising candidate to be Nashville Predators backup next season

Now that the Nashville Predators are done playing hockey in 2024-25, the attention shifts to the Milwaukee Admirals who are heading back to the playoffs in the AHL as goalie Matt Murray continues to put up ridiculous numbers between the pipes.

Murray secured the win and the shutout on Friday to propel the Admirals to their second-straight division title and put a cap on what has been an incredible season for the 27-year-old goalie prospect.

That's eight consecutive wins for Murray and four shutouts on the season as it wraps up with the playoffs up next. His first season with the Admirals is career highs in games played at 43, save percentage at .932 and Goals Against Average at 2.07, excluding his first AHL season when he only appeared in six games.

Murray caps off the AHL regular season leading the league in save percentage and second in total saves.

There was an open goalie competition for the Admirals to start 2024-25, with Murray joining Magnus Chrona as the two newcomers between the pipes after the exodus of Yarosalv Askarov. Eventually Murray won that battle to get a bigger share of the starts.

That's three full seasons of AHL work for Murray now and the time has come to see if he can win over coaches on the NHL level and elevate to being Juuse Saros' backup in the near future.

Obviously Justus Annunen will have something to say about that as he was brought over to the Predators in the Scott Wedgewood trade with the Colorado Avalanche. A slightly younger goalie than Murray, but with similar numbers at the AHL level also with three seasons, but spent the entirety of 2024-25 at the NHL level.

The Predators shouldn't be married to Annunen as next season's backup to Saros. Annunen is signed for one more year at $837,500. You'd rather not waive him, but if you feel like Murray can be much more dependable as a backup to Saros then you make that decision to waive Annunen and hope no one claims him.

In other words, the Predators aren't heavily invested in Annunen to stick around if you have a better option waiting in the wings to be elevated.

Tale of the Tape of Nashville Predators potential backups to Juuse Saros

Annunen shows short bursts of encouraging play, but other times looks shaky. Now to not be too harsh on Annunen, Saros also was wildly streaky last season with a Predators defense that was constantly changing in front of them and surrendered a lot of defensive breakdowns throughout the season.

Between NHL time with the Avalanche and Predators in 2024-25, he notched a troublesome save percentage of .883 and a GAA of 3.18. Not something you just gloss over when you have a goalie in the AHL ranks just ripping apart the competition like Murray is doing right now for the Admirals.

Murray on the other hand is signed for two more years on a two-way contract. He just got an extension with the Predators this month, showing that the front office really likes what they're seeing from the goalie who has done their time in the AHL and might be primed to find a more permanent spot on the Predators' bench.

One caveat is that Murray is undersized compared to Annunen. Murray is 6'1" while Annunen is 6'4". Doesn't always mean the bigger goalie is going to be better, but there is always some pause about undersized goalies making it long-term in the NHL. They can be a rare breed.

Also not to be overlooked is that Murray has yet to get his long-term shot in the NHL. Four starts across two seasons with the Dallas Stars before becoming a free agent and the Predators adding him in 2024. Murray actually logged a shutout for the Stars in his lone start in 2023-24.

So we really don't know what Murray will produce with a larger sample size at the NHL level, and that is the risk you take if the Predators were to go with him over Annunen. But let's be honest that what we've seen from Annunen in 52 NHL games is iffy at best.

This competition between Annunen and Murray is going to take some deep evaluation from the coaching staff. You can make an argument to open 2025-26 with the status quo of Saros/Annunen and start Murray off again with the Admirals, but keep a close eye on Annunen's play early on. I don't think the Predators should hesitate to make the switch and call up Murray if Annunen struggles and loses some games for the Predators.

It will also be easy at that point to waive Annunen if he's already struggling because no team is going to claim him if his stock is way down. He swaps with Murray and goes to Milwaukee while Murray gets his NHL opportunity. That's how I see the plan shaking out. Best case scenario is both goalies play really well in 2025-26, and then you trade Annunen to a goalie hungry team.

This is the route the Predators will likely choose to go initially, unless Murray just absolutely dazzles in these upcoming AHL playoffs and carries it over into offseason training camp. He doesn't hurt the organization too bad if they end up cutting ties with Annunen.

Either way, we should be talking more about Murray in the Nashville Predators prospect pool. He may not seem like a prospect as he's 27, but he's undrafted and a cool story to watch right now as the Calder Cup Playoffs are about to start.