Washington Capitals: Three Takeaways From Ilya Samsonov’s Rookie Season
Three takeaways from Washington Capitals Ilya Samsonov’s rookie season.
Jose Theodore, Semyon Varlamov, Michal Neuvirth, Braden Holtby, and now Ilya Samsonov. Most of those names are not the best names you’ll find when talking about the goaltender position. Especially in the last decade or so. You have the best of the best when talking about Carey Price or Jonathan Quick or maybe even a Tuuka Rask.
The point in listing those names is, the Washington Capitals, for the most part, have not had to worry about the man in between the pipes. A lot of other teams cannot say the same, especially for an extended amount of time, with multiple goalies.
The solid play in net seemingly won’t be coming to an end anytime soon. That thought comes from the solid rookie season from 23-year-old Ilya Samsonov. Samsonov’s final stat line for the season will look like this, 16-6-2, 2.55 Goals Against Average and a .913 Save Percentage.
That’s a solid season for anybody. Not to mention a 23-year-old rookie. It was a heck of a season for Samsonov, here are 3 things to takeaway from him first season in the NHL.
The future looks bright
We’ve already talked about his stats and how good they looked. Those stats could honestly be a little better. From the start of the season all the way up to January 7th, Samsonov was 12-2-1, had a 2.24 GAA and a .921 Save Percentage.
At that same time, the undisputed number one Braden Holtby was 18-8-4, had a 2.99 GAA with a Save Percentage of .901. Samsonov was clearly the better goaltender for more than half of the season.
With the near future of this position in some doubt for the Capitals, the way Samsonov played for most of his rookie season has to be exciting. The Caps are up against the salary cap. They can’t afford all of their key players. It’s just the way the hockey world works now. You have to find spots and positions that you can save some money on while not handicapping your team.
Samsonov will be a cheap option in net for at least the next couple of seasons. His rookie deal ends in 2021-22 and unless he comes in and blows the doors off the league he shouldn’t command a huge deal.
But, for now, throw all the cap concerns out the window. Samsonov has shown he deserves to be an NHL goaltender. If he continues to develop and play like he did for more than half of the season he could be a great NHL goalie and the Capitals will have a a great backstop for many years.
He’s JUST not quite ready to be a starter
As great as Samsonov’s start was, this is what you look at with younger NHL goalies. Can they handle being an everyday starter? After his great start that we just mentioned, his last ten appearances were not the greatest display we’ve seen.
Was that all his fault? No, the Capitals team defense has been a question mark all season and Holtby struggled with it as well.
Still, in his last ten appearances in net Samsonov had a 4-4-1 record, his GAA spiked up to 3.15 and his Save Percentage took a tumble down to .898%.
It’s a lot easier as a goalie to come into the best league in the world and have your goalie partner be one of the best in the business. You come in, you do your job and you don’t have a ton of pressure on you. If you struggle you have that security blanket. The pressure of the team is not on your shoulders alone.
This is not an insult to say Samsonov isn’t quite ready to be a starter. Most 23-year-old guys are not.
For Samsonov, this is what this season was about for him. At least from an outside looking in position like we have. Put him in the NHL and see how he does. He did very well. But he stumbled as the season went on. That’s fine, and to be expected.
If Samsonov is forced into being a starter sooner than most of us would like it would be a good idea, if you can afford it, to sign a veteran goaltender to sit behind him. Someone who’s been around long enough to help out the young Russian and if needed, can step in a maybe give the team some quality starts.
As great as his start was, his finish just makes you hesitate giving him a starters job. That job is likely not far off, but it’s not quite here either.
Braden Holtby is on borrowed time in D.C.
As fun and exciting as it is to watch a young and up and coming player, you also realize there is only so much room on a team. This is especially true for goalies where there are only two spots open, and only one gets to be the everyday starter.
You likely don’t need me telling you all this, but Holtby has been terrific in Washington. In his time in Washington, Holtby has won a Vezina trophy as the best goaltender in the league (in 2016), a Jennings Trophy in 2017, won 48 games in a single season, tied for the most in a single season with Martin Brodeur, and of course backstopped the Capitals to a Stanley Cup in 2018. What else needs to be said to convince someone how great he’s been for the Caps.
But, as we mentioned before, we live in a salary cap world. You can’t fit everyone. Going into this season everyone knew the Caps were going to have trouble, especially fitting in Nicklas Backstrom who needed an extension as well as extending Holtby.
Then two things happened that made Holtby’s future in D.C. especially bleak. Backstrom signed his extension on January 14th, getting an annual bump from $6.7 a year to $9.2 a year. Then, as we’re discussing here today, Samsonov was playing very well.
You have to find some way to trim salary. Samsonov has shown he belongs in the NHL, he’s seven or eight years younger, he has a ton of potential, and oh yes, he’ll be much cheaper for the next few seasons. That’s not a good recipe for the former Vezina winner.
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Holtby will always be a legend in Washington, but his reign is just about over. It’s just about Samsonov’s time. Thanks to his good season this year, it could be much earlier than any of us expected.