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 [https://en.khl.ru/official/gagarin-cup/?utm_referrer=https%3a%2f%2fwww.google.com%2f]. In his last KHL [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/montreal-canadiens/latest-news/canadiens-zharovsky-plays-key-role-in-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 [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals], who drafted him 22nd overall in 2015, the Toronto Maple Leafs [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs], and the Vegas Golden Knights [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/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 [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/washington-capitals/latest-news/capitals-lose-pierre-luc-dubois-to-lower-body-injury]. 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 [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/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 [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/latest-news/you-re-stunned-a-bit-confused-maple-leafs-chris-tanev-suffered-a-concussion-but-all-signs-point-to-return-against-flyers]. 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 [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vegas-golden-knights/latest-news/ilya-samsonov-won-t-return-to-the-golden-knights-testing-free-agency] in the NHL, he joined the Golden Knights [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/vegas-golden-knights/players/golden-knights-forward-tomas-hertl-set-to-skate-in-800th-career-game] 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. Image [https://deweb-519a7.b-cdn.net/post-images/8d6a5df5-8133-48d4-b38e-beb3fb382986.jpeg] For action-packed issues, access to the entire magazine archive and a free issue, subscribe to The Hockey News at THN.com/free [https://thehockeynews.store/products/print-subscription]. Get the latest news and trending stories by subscribing to our newsletter here [http://eepurl.com/i7OC4I]. And share your thoughts by commenting below the article on THN.com or creating your own post in our community forum.
