Matt Murray

Matt Murray grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario, and was selected by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the third round, 22nd pick, of the 2012 NHL Draft. He went on to win the Stanley Cup twice with Pittsburgh, and by the time he sat down with InGoal Magazine for an hour-long film session in the summer of 2023, he had eight NHL seasons behind him. That session became the foundation for one of the publication's most extensive Pro Reads relationships. InGoal Magazine has covered Matt Murray in 13 Pro Reads.

The 6'5", 220-pound left-catching goaltender has been candid about how he views his own game, and that self-assessment runs through every entry in his InGoal series. "I see my game as one where my athleticism is not necessarily my strongest suit, so these reads are kind of the equalizer for a guy like me," Murray said during that initial session Matt Murray ProRead 1. "I've got the size and I've got the brain for it — I read the play well — but there are a lot of guys in the League that are a lot more athletic than I am and it's a good lesson for young goalies that there are other equalizers, you don't always have to be just the best athlete. Being good with these types of reads and little technical details can really help your game."

His Pro Reads debut Matt Murray ProRead 1 focused on screen management — an area he excelled in statistically, according to Clear Sight Analytics — and ran nearly nine minutes, covering four distinct keys to handling traffic and cross-body shots. Murray walked through the importance of a shooter's handedness in choosing a sightline, the danger of being dragged too far by a screener, the geometry of the short-side path to the net, and the discipline of staying contained through a cross-body save rather than over-committing. Subsequent entries in Toronto extended into deflections, net play, post integration, and managing a multiple-stance system Matt Murray ProRead 4Matt Murray ProRead 5Matt Murray ProRead 6Matt Murray ProRead 7Matt Murray ProRead 8Matt Murray ProRead 9.

A recurring theme across the series is Murray's use of a high, narrow stance when the puck is on the perimeter. "When the puck is on the outside, just chill," he explained in one breakdown Matt Murray ProRead 10. "I've learned over my career it's important to find areas on the ice where you can just hang out, conserve your energy, nice and tall, mobile stance, narrow." He described the tradeoff for a goalie his size: "If you get too wide too soon, that's when you kind of get stuck." That same entry involved a sequence against Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals, during which Murray explained the process of determining when to commit to a shooter even when Ovechkin is winding up on the far side. "There's a certain point where if he doesn't pass it by now, it's probably taken away, and then you can lock in," he said. "That's one of the biggest things in today's NHL is that lock-in moment because everybody's always trying to make a play."

On 2-on-1 reads, Murray described his process as starting in the neutral zone. "The first thing that I take in are the hands of both guys," he said during one session covering a partial rush against Tampa Bay Matt Murray ProRead 7. In another, against Washington, his read was shaped by his defenseman's positioning: "By the positioning of our D there, it's going to be really hard for him to make the pass," he said of Vince Dunn's gap on Connor McMichael Matt Murray ProRead 11. "So you know that that pass, he's going to have to force it, so he's probably going to shoot." Once the read was made, Murray said his next step was adjusting his depth accordingly — taking more ice on the shooter because the pass was taken away.

Murray also appeared in a multi-goalie Pro Reads entry Pro Reads with (all 3) Seattle Kraken Goalies exploring how NHL goalies identify shooters by their stick blade, tape job, and release. He described the picture of a blade as the primary way a goalie recognizes a player: "You can tell a guy's curve, if he's got a big toe curve, you can see it when he's shooting at you, whether he keeps it in tight versus out away from him, when he likes to shoot it, the lie, or the way it sits." On shot shape, he pointed to Ovechkin as an example of a shooter whose puck flight resists easy processing. "It's like a curve ball from a pitcher," Murray said. "So with him you just try to get big and hope it hits you because your brain, as a human being, you don't have enough time to process the information."

Murray's Pro Reads sessions in Toronto were recorded amid a difficult stretch. He sat out nearly the entire 2023-24 season following hip surgery, and the series produced during that period drew on footage from prior seasons while he worked his way back. He eventually made it back to AHL game action late that season Matt Murray ProRead 7, re-signed with the Maple Leafs Matt Murray ProRead 9Matt Murray ProRead 8, split last season between Toronto and their AHL affiliate, and then signed with the Seattle Kraken. His Pro Reads continued from Seattle Matt Murray ProRead 10Matt Murray ProRead 11Matt Murray Pro Reads, covering his first start of the season and subsequent games through an injury that kept him out six weeks before his return.

In 279 career NHL games, Murray has posted 147 wins, 89 losses, and 25 overtime losses, with a 2.79 goals-against average, a .910 save percentage, and 15 shutouts. In five games for the Kraken in 2025-26, he carries a 2.21 goals-against average and a .922 save percentage.