Dallas Stars sign goaltender Matt Murray to one-year, two-way contract

The Dallas Stars have signed depth goaltender Matt Murray to a one-year, two-way contract for the 2023-24 season.

Murray played in three games with the Stars this year, recording a 1-2-0 record with a save percentage of .844. He won in his first NHL start on March 2 against Chicago, a 19-save effort. He lost his final two games, both against Vancouver.

Murray was ultimately undrafted in the NHL before signing an AHL deal with Texas late in the 2021-22 season. The Stars signed Murray in late October after Jake Oettinger went down with an injury. The team couldn’t afford to call up Anton Khudobin and his $3.33 million cap hit at the time, so they signed Murray and used him as a short-term backup.

Murray spent most of the season in the AHL, recording an 18-10-5 record with a .911 save percentage and three shutouts. He also had a 5-3-0 run with Texas in the playoffs, only for Texas to be knocked out 3-2 by Milwaukee in the Central Division finals.

Murray had a successful five-year run with UMass of the NCAA, posting a 73-39-4 record with 14 shutouts over 121 games. Murray won three Hockey East championships and was an overall NCAA champion in 2020-21 while sharing the net with Pittsburgh Penguins prospect Filip Lindberg.

Prior to college, Murray went the Jr. A route, winning the CJHL and AJHL’s top goaltender awards in 2015-16 while a member of the Spruce Grove Saints. That same season, he helped Canada West win gold at the World Junior A Challenge. Murray posted a 37-5-3 record with five shutouts in two AJHL seasons, making him one of the best Jr. A goalies of his time.

The Stars have four goaltenders signed for next year: NHLers Oettinger and Scott Wedgewood, as well as Murray and Remi Poirier in the AHL. Adam Scheel, a 24-year-old minor leaguer, is a pending RFA, while Dylan Wells is a Group 6 UFA.