Ilya Samsonov could be a good reclamation project
Some fans of the Toronto Maple Leafs raised an eyebrow when news broke that Ilya Samsonov, the goaltender who struggled in the first half of the season and was sent down to the AHL’s Toronto Marlies, was recalled by the big club on Wednesday.
Samsonov, 26, has a 5-2-6 record with the Maple Leafs this season, combined with a .862 SV% and a 3.94 GAA, eventually losing the starting job to Joseph Woll. After Woll suffered an injury, Samsonov had a chance to regain the starting role, but was surpassed by veteran netminder Martin Jones.
While most are unsure as to Samsonov’s future with the Maple Leafs, there’s some speculation that the Russian netminder, who helped Toronto earn their first playoff series victory in nearly 20 years last spring, could be a reclamation project for teams trying to find goaltending in the second half of 2023-24.
#Leafs continue evaluation process for Ilya Samsonov, wanted to get him back in practice to see where his game is after a full mental and physical reset.
Sounds like they also want get Dennis Hildeby playing again with the Marlies, so he can be ready if called upon.
— Frank Seravalli (@frank_seravalli) January 10, 2024
On Wednesday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss some of the available goalies ahead of March’s Trade Deadline, and if Samsonov could have value in the trade market.
Frank Seravalli: Today we saw Ilya Samsonsov called up to the Maple Leafs after his 10-day mental and physical reset, what happens with him? Does he eventually become available?
We put him on the trade targets board because someone somewhere is thinking “look at his numbers last year, maybe we could rehabilitate this guy, and since he’s a pending UFA, not have any term attached to us if it doesn’t work out.”
Listen to the rest of the segment and the full episode here…