The struggling goaltender is with the Toronto Marlies, but will not play any games this week.
The struggling goaltender is with the Toronto Marlies, but will not play any games this week.
LOS ANGELES — Brad Treliving connected with goaltender Ilya Samsonov before the club placed the Russian goaltender on waivers on Sunday. The Toronto Maple Leafs GM made it a point to communicate to Samsonov that the move was done in the interest of helping him get his game back.
"There’s a little bit of a shock when you walk him through it. But he really understood," Treliving said on Tuesday. "This isn’t punishment. We need him to get back to where he’s capable of getting back to it and he wants to get there."
Samsonov has struggled this season, but things hit a new low on Dec. 29 when the goaltender allowed six goals on 21 shots in. 6-5 loss to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The hope before that game was that the NHL-mandated holiday break would clear the 26-year-old's head...It did not.
That forced Treliving to try a different approach. One where the goaltender doesn't have to mentally focus on getting into the net for a game, whether that's with the Maple Leafs, or the AHL's Toronto Marlies, where the goaltender is right now.
"It’s a physical and mental reset where he can get away from preparing for the next game and all the pressures that come with it," Treliving said. "To me, I’m seeing the mental drives the bus a little bit. It’s hard to correct the technical side when there's a lot going on. So we're trying to just let the air out of the balloon a little bit."
Samsonov will not play a game with the Marlies this week and the Maple Leafs are using this time away in California to give the situation a one-week break. The Russian goaltender will work exclusively with Marlies goalie coach Hannu Toivonen and conditioning staff. When the Maple Leafs return from their three-game road trip, they'll reassess the situation.
In the meantime, the Maple Leafs have called up Dennis Hildeby and they are non-committal about whether the goaltender will make his NHL debut this week.
There was a reluctance to bring up the 22-year-old goaltender who is in the midst of his first year of professional hockey with the Toronto Marlies. Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said a decision on Hildeby's status for Wednesday's game against the Anaheim Ducks will be made after they see how Martin Jones feels following Tuesday's game against the Los Angeles Kings.
"This isn’t something where we’re scared to push Dennis into anything," Treliving insisted. "But he’s also shown that he’s had a really good start there. Circumstances dictated that we really wanted to do this with Ilya and the second part of that is Dennis has played well."
After a standout first season with the Maple Leafs, Samsonov began the 2023-24 as the club's presumptive starter. He has a 5-2-6 record with an .862 save percentage and Joseph Woll has since overtaken him as the team's starter. Woll has been out since Dec. 7 with a high-anke sprain and there is no timeline on his return.
Hildeby, Toronto's fourth-round selection (122nd overall) in the 2022 NHL Draft, has a 7-5-3 record and .919 save percentage in his first season with the Marlies.
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