Penguins' Matt Murray, other goaltenders have unique challenge during NHL's pause

It was an easy decision for Matt Murray in the mid-2000s.

In reality, it was out of his control.

What position should he play?

“I used to play (defenseman) one game and goalie the next game up until I was like probably 10 years old,” the current Penguins goaltender said Monday. “I used to really enjoy both. Then, I’m pretty sure I was 10 years old where they made you pick (a position), made you choose. I was a lot better, at the time, than I was as a (defenseman). I wasn’t much of a skater, I don’t think. I ended up picking goalie. I don’t think I would have gotten very far as a defenseman.”

The two most recent Stanley Cup championship banners hanging from the rafters of PPG Paints Arena suggest Murray’s subpar skating directed him on the correct route.

At the moment, the biggest impediment to Murray and the Penguins potentially adding another banner isn’t a cantankerous Metropolitan Division rival such as the Philadelphia Flyers or Columbus Blue Jackets.

It is if the NHL will resume the season after pausing play because of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

All signs seem to suggest the NHL will go to just about any length to conclude this season in some fashion — if for no other reason than to meet as many obligations as possible to its television broadcasters and limit potentially dire economic damages a cancellation would incur.

Suffice it to say, these are uncommon times with uncommon challenges for everyone. Especially for those who occupy arguably the most uncommon position in all of sports.

Forwards and defensemen can perform roughly the same drills, even in isolation.

But goaltenders?

“It’s a little different,” Penguins goaltender Tristan Jarry said last week during a video session with local independent media. “The (forwards and defensemen) have their offensive zone meetings and their defensive zone meetings and the power play and penalty kill. But Matt and I have a different aspect of the game. We see it from a different angle.”

“I’ve just been trying to stay in shape as best I can,” said Murray, whose interview Monday was limited to questions posed by an NHL media relations staffer. “Not doing too much. Just maybe throwing a tennis ball off a wall here and there. Just trying to keep the body in shape and making sure that my body is ready for when we start back up again.”

As the starting goaltender for the Penguins’ Stanley Cup title teams in 2016 and ‘17, Murray has relatively few peers, at least based on career accomplishments. An argument could be made the goaltenders who won the title in the two subsequent years are in his company.

They seem to be taking advantage of the league’s hiatus just to take a mental break from the considerable demands placed on their position.

“I’m not doing much right now, to be honest,” Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals said during the same interview session with Murray. “In the summer, I take a few months off completely anyway just to try and get my mind off completely from everything. It’s going to be tough once there’s kind of a gameplan in place, where we have a bit of time where we know we’re going to come back, to figure out ways to see enough shots or see anything.”

Added St. Louis Blues goalie Jordan Binnington, “At first, I was working out a little bit, thinking it was going to be a short-term thing. Then after you kind of realize it’s going to be a little bit longer, I took some time for myself and gave my mind a little break and picked it back up. We’re all in the same boat, and you have to get creative with what you’re doing. I think we’ll have ample time to turn it back up when need be.”

If the NHL resumes the season, goaltenders around the league will have a unique challenge of regaining their conditioning as well as the rhythm often associated with their role.

“It’s going to be difficult, but we’re all going to be in the same position (of difficulty),” Holtby said. “Everyone will try to make the most of it and try the best we can.”