Daily Nuggets: Questions in Toronto about this Player Joining LTIR

Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Matt Murray will spend the 2023-24 season on LTIR. Murray is in the final year of his contract with the Maple Leafs and the move to LTIR is sure to raise questions around the league. Details are a bit murky but Murray does have a history of concussions. Prior to the Maple Leafs’ fourth game of the second round, Murray was cleared and served as the backup goaltender. What has changed since then?

Sebastian Aho was extended by the Carolina Hurricanes for eight years at $9.75 million AAV. The 26-year-old has been extremely reliable for his entire career and is in the midst of his prime. The Hurricanes have a number of unrestricted free agents after the 2023-24 season including Teuvo Teravainen, Brady Skjei, and Brett Pesce. Locking up Aho shows a commitment to the future of the Hurricanes and will make it easier to extend pending free agents.

Vladimir Tarasenko is still a free agent. Are the Nashville Predators still pursuing Tarasenko? When did the Predators start pursuing Tarasenko? The Predators have $7.9 million of salary cap space available. The money is there to make it work. Tarasenko is probably weighing the pros and cons of taking a one-year bridge deal with a team like the Predators or Florida Panthers. It just comes down if Tarasenko is willing to gamble on himself or settle for less money and longer term.

Patrice Bergeron announced his retirement on Tuesday. Will Bergeron retiring weigh in on Zach Parise’s decision to retire or not? The 38-year-old has played over 1,330 NHL games and logged over 950 points. Parise played all 82 regular season games for the last two seasons with the New York Islanders. Health does not seem to be an issue for Parise. Does he want to grind it out for another season? Time will tell.