The Toronto Maple Leafs have placed Ilya Samsonov on waivers. In a separate piece of news, the Buffalo Sabres place Eric Comrie on waivers as well. Both of these goalies have had disappointing starts to the season and being placed on waivers is the first step to figuring out what’s next in their careers.
Samsonov has a record of 5-2-6 for the Maple Leafs along with a 3.94 GAA and .862 SV%. Earlier in the season, he lost the starters job in Toronto to Joseph Woll. Woll continued to be a solid goalie for them until he went down with an ankle injury. The Woll injury, as devastating as it could have been for the team, also provided Samsonov with an opportunity to regain the starters’ crease.
That didn’t end up happening, as he was surpassed by yet another goalie on the Maple Leafs’ depth chart in Martin Jones. Jones has proved to be a good stop-gap until Woll comes back and the best option to be the backup goalie for the rest of the season.
The Maple Leafs are expected to call up goalie prospect Dennis Hildeby from the Toronto Marlies. The 24-year-old netminder has never played an NHL game before and only has 17 games of AHL experience. The Leafs are confident that a Jones/Hildeby tandem will be good enough to weather the storm until Woll returns. The Leafs’ next game is a road matchup against the Los Angeles Kings on January 2, which is the earliest date for Hildeby to make his NHL debut, if they decide to start him for that game.
Like Samsonov in Toronto, Comrie has been overtaken on the Sabres’ goaltending depth chart by other goalies. The Sabres kept Comrie so he could be a steadying force for Devon Levi and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen in net. And while none of these three goalies have been very good this year, Comrie has been the worst of the bunch.
In seven games, Comrie has a record of 1-5-0 with a 4.01 GAA and .863 SV%, eerily similar numbers to Samsonov. It doesn’t make sense for NHL teams to carry three goalies on the roster so Comrie ended up being the odd-man out and will return to the Rochester Americans, assuming he clears waivers first.
If either of these goalies clear waivers and get sent down to the AHL, their respective teams will gain $1.15 million in cap space due to that move.
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