Ilya Samsonov is having an incredible career in the National Hockey League . With elements of tragedy, drama, but still incredible. Throughout his five seasons in the NHL, the Russian goalie has been forced to overcome many barriers and fight, so to speak, internal demons that keep throwing a spoke in his wheels. While playing for the Washington Capitals, Ilya faced enormous pressure and a strong wave of criticism against him, and once even Alexander Ovechkin snapped at him. The result of his relationship with the “capital” was a divorce and further move to Canada.
It seemed that with the move to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Samsonov’s life got better. At some point, the Russian goalkeeper even took on a leading role in the team. Largely thanks to him, the Leafs made it past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in many years. But later troubles overtook Ilya again. It all started with negotiations for a new contract with the Maple Leafs – the situation had to be resolved through arbitration. As a result, the Russian received a one-year contract with a salary of $3.55 million, although he expected more. Even then it became clear that Ilya’s relationship with Toronto risked being short-lived, although the parties, naturally, argued the opposite. The start of the new season only confirmed these fears.
Many things began to go wrong for Samsonov, he lost reliability and confidence; against the backdrop of these difficulties, the Russian became nervous and sometimes even enraged. At the end of 2023, everything ended with Ilya being sent to the waiver draft, from which none of the NHL clubs took him. Samsonov also did not play in the AHL – he continued to train, and the Toronto management noted that the goalkeeper “needs to be alone with himself, work on his psychology and reboot.” In mid-January, Ilya played his first NHL game after the break, and a little later he won his first victory in a month and a half.
“”This is very important for me. I haven't felt this way for a long time. I had to take a couple of steps back to move forward. It was really important for me. I was in a very bad situation, especially psychologically, but now I feel good “, Samsonov shared this comment with North American journalists.
The Russian demonstrated how well Ilya feels now in today’s game with the Winnipeg Jets, one of the opening teams of this NHL season. In this match, Samsonov recorded his second shutout in the championship, helped the Leafs get another victory and made 32 saves. One of them is just garbage. During the power play, Toronto missed Winnipeg's counterattack two to zero, but Samsonov was not at all embarrassed by the two Jets players. They tried, as they say, to roll over the goalkeeper, but it didn’t work out that way. The Russian did not succumb to Winnipeg’s trick and saved the Maple Leafs from a sure goal.
Ilya was applauded by the entire Cowshabank Arena in Toronto, and the fans chanted the Russian goalkeeper's name over and over again. As Samsonov himself admitted after the match, such support almost brought him to tears. His emotions can be understood, given the difficulties he had to overcome earlier.
The result of the match was Toronto's victory in overtime. The decisive goal was scored by Auston Matthews, the best sniper of the NHL season. He already has 39 goals in 45 matches. The American is confidently on track for 70 goals per season. It was Matthews Samsonov who presented the belt to the best player of the match in the team in the Maple Leafs locker room, but the American handed it back to Ilya. The Russian goalkeeper was left with this award after the second game in a row.
“”This is incredible. Ilya is our best player on the court right now. I don’t even have enough good words for him. The way he played today is incredible “Matthews said.
Of course, it’s too early to draw global conclusions right now. But I really want to believe that Samsonov has found himself and is on the path to returning to a high level.
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