"No Leafs fan will forget "smiling Sammy" Ilya Samsonov during his tenure with Toronto. Known for his quirky quotes in post-game interviews, Samsonov actually fared quite well in his two seasons spent with the team. During the 2022-23 season, he posted his best numbers of his career with the Leafs by putting up a 27-10-5 record, 2.33 GAA and a .919 save percentage. More significantly, Samsonov helped Toronto get past the first round of the playoffs for the first time in almost two decades."
"Despite some regression in his subsequent 2023-24 season with the Leafs, he still managed to secure 23 wins of his own in a tandem with Joseph Woll and Martin Jones as well. Last year with the Vegas Golden Knights, Samsonov maintained respectable numbers as their backup, posting a 16-9-4 record with a 2.82 GAA. With that performance, he shouldn't have any problem in eventually landing a backup or tandem position with a legitimate team, especially at still the young age of 28."
The Toronto Maple Leafs enter 2025-26 preseason with a largely finalized training camp roster after offseason moves. Several former Maple Leafs remain unsigned with the regular season about a month away. Ilya Samsonov posted career-best numbers in 2022-23, helped the team advance past the first playoff round in nearly twenty years, and produced solid backup statistics with the Vegas Golden Knights in 2024-25, making him a likely candidate for a backup or tandem role elsewhere. T.J. Brodie was once considered a bona fide top-four defenseman but has since seen his standing decline and remains without an NHL contract.
Read at Editor In Leaf
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