Maple Leafs place goaltender Ilya Samsonov on IR; Matt Murray's return 'on the horizon'

The Toronto Maple Leafs made a big sacrifice in Saturday night’s win over the Boston Bruins, losing goaltender Ilya Samsonov to a knee injury. The netminder left the game after two periods and had many in the hockey world wondering what could be next for the Maple Leafs. 

Sunday morning, the organization signed goaltender Keith Petruzzelli to a a two-year, entry-level contract to fill the void in Samsonov’s absence alongside backstop Erik Kallgren until either Samsonov, or Matt Murray, who is currently on LTIR, can return.

Earlier Sunday, Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe met the media to provide updates on the team’s goaltending situation. For one, Keefe told reporters, including Sports Illustrated’s David Alter, that Samsonov is indeed being placed on IR. 

This move will create the roster spot for Petruzzelli. Per TSN’s Mark Masters, Keefe added that Samsonov will have an MRI on his knee Sunday and is expected to miss more than a week, but the timeline beyond that is unclear.

Now without Murray and Samsonov, Toronto is down to their third and fourth string goaltenders, the fourth string one they didn’t expect to have until earlier Sunday. 

In the aftermath of Samsonov’s injury, many turned their eyes to the injured Murray. Of course, Murray is still on LTIR, however the initial timeline for his abductor injury was listed as four weeks. That was three weeks ago.

Keefe did not go so far as to give a timeline on Murray, but beyond adding his return is “on the horizon,” Keefe did tell Alter that Murray would join the Maple Leafs for practice as soon as Tuesday. 

Keefe also mentioned, Masters writes, that he considers Murray to be “ahead of schedule” in regards to his timeline. What exactly that could mean is unclear, but the Maple Leafs will have a busy week nonetheless. 

After Sunday afternoon’s contest in Carolina, the team returns home for games on Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday, including challenges from the Vegas Golden Knights, Pittsburgh Penguins, and a desperate Vancouver Canucks squad.

In the meantime, the duo of Kallgren and Petruzzelli may not sound all that enticing to Toronto fans, however each brings a solid track record to the table. 

Petruzzelli was dominant in his four years at Quinnipiac University before turning pro last season. The 23-year-old continued his dominance with the ECHL’s Newfoundland Growlers and spent five games with the Toronto Marlies in the AHL as well. 

This season, he was off to a strong start with a 2.31 goals-against average and .922 save-percentage in six games with the Marlies. 

Meanwhile, Kallgren brings with him a bevy of European experience prior to his North American debut last season, where he played 40 games between the Marlies and Maple Leafs.