The Matt Murray trade, in hindsight, couldn’t have been all the Toronto Maple Leafs were planning. Toronto wasn'tt walking away from starter Jack Campbell just to push all their chips toward a goaltender who has languished on bad teams and dealt with concussion and confidence problems in the half decade since he won back-to-back Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
According to a report from The Athletic’s Arthur Staple Wednesday less than an hour before the NHL free-agent market officially opened, the Leafs and GM Kyle Dubas indeed have a goaltending plan that goes beyond Murray. It appears Toronto will sign Ilya Samsonov to form a tandem with Murray.
Samsonov, 25, broke into the NHL in 2019-20 with major pedigree as a 2015 Washington Capitals first-round pick. After a promising rookie campaign in which he posted a .913 save percentage, Samsonov struggled over the past two seasons, posting an .898 SV% and grading out as one of the NHL’s worst netminders. The Capitals declined to give him a qualifying offer this week, which converted him from a restricted free agent to an unrestricted free agent.
Samsonov hasn’t realized what was considered elite potential as a No. 1 goaltender just a couple seasons back, but he’s an intriguing reclamation project for new Leafs goaltending coach Curtis Sanford and goaltending consultant Jon Elkin — reminiscent of Toronto betting on a Jack Campbell revival. Samsonov is younger than 74.8% of the goalies who played an NHL regular-season game in 2021-22.
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