After stints with the Washington Capitals, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Vegas Golden Knights, goaltender Ilya Samsonov is returning to the KHL.
After six seasons in the NHL, goaltender Ilya Samsonov is returning to the KHL. He’ll be joining Sochi, as he signed a two-year contract with the club.
The Russian goaltender has played in parts of four KHL seasons before he entered the NHL in 2019-20.
Those four seasons were with his hometown team, Magnitogorsk. Samsonov won a championship with Magnitogorsk in 2015-16, who are also the defending champions of the KHL, winning the 2024 Gagarin Cup.
In his last KHL season in 2017-18, Samsonov recorded a .926 save percentage and a 2.31 goals-against average in 26 games.
Aside from his career outside of North America, the 28-year-old netminder has played for the Washington Capitals, who drafted him 22nd overall in 2015, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the Vegas Golden Knights.
Between those three teams, he made 200 NHL appearances with a career average of a .902 SP and 2.77 GAA.
In his playoff career, he made 22 appearances, averaging a .901 SP and a 3.05 GAA.
His best post-season campaign was with the Capitals. In 2021-22, he made four starts, recording a .912 SP and 2.97 GAA. Washington was eliminated in the first round by the Florida Panthers.
Samsonov had some great seasons in the NHL, but with that came inconsistency and other campaigns that weren’t so solid.
His best season came in 2022-23 in his first year with the Maple Leafs. In 40 starts, he registered a 27-10-5 record, putting up a .919 SP, 2.33 GAA and four shutouts.
However, just one season later, he recorded a .890 SP and 3.13 GAA, also in 40 starts.
For the last season he played in the NHL, he joined the Golden Knights and inked a one-year, $1.8-million contract. He went on to play 29 games, posting a .891 SP and a 2.82 GAA.
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