Senators' Murray clears waivers, will be assigned to AHL

Ottawa Senators goaltender Matt Murray went unclaimed on the waiver wire, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman.

The Senators will demote Murray to their AHL affiliate, Postmedia's Bruce Garrioch confirms. Ottawa head coach D.J. Smith said Saturday that the club would assign the netminder to Belleville if he cleared waivers.

Murray is earning $6 million this season while carrying a $6.25-million cap hit. He's gone 0-5-0 with an .890 save percentage in six games with the NHL club on the campaign.

The 27-year-old was expected to be the Senators' unquestioned No. 1 goalie in 2021-22, but he's struggled in between suffering an injury and landing in COVID-19 protocol. Both of those situations are now resolved.

Murray hasn't performed well in his Ottawa tenure as a whole, going 10-18-1 with an .892 save percentage across 33 games. The Senators landed him in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins in October 2020.