Brian MacLellan’s Five Best Drafts Picks As Capitals General Manager
By CJ Witt
2015
Ilya Samsonov
The 2015 draft may go down as the Connor McDavid draft. The Capitals were able to pick a pretty good player that year as well at the 22nd pick. Ilya Samsonov, another goaltender. At the time, to me, that seemed like a weird pick, considering the Capitals had Braden Holtby. Now, that pick looks like it could be a steal for Washington.
While his numbers last season in the minors didn’t look very good (a 2.70 GAA and .898 save percentage) his numbers and play in the NHL this season showed his potential to be a number one goaltender in D.C. In his first NHL season Samsonov played in 26 games putting up a 2.55 GAA and had a .913 save percentage.
Up until the 18th of January, Samsonov had a 2.06 GAA and a .927 save percentage. He potentially hit a rookie wall. After the 18th he had a 3.88 GAA with a .878 save percentage. It wouldn’t be the first time and it will in no way be the last time a rookie hit a wall halfway through his first season. Let’s just hope his NHL career looks like the first half of his season rather than the second half.
If his career ends up like the first half of his rookie season the Caps absolutely nailed this pick at 22nd overall. We have a long ways to go to find out how good he will be, but as of right now, this was a great pick by MacLellan and his team.
This past year, the Capitals needed a depth defenseman to step up. They got someone to do just that in the form of Jonas Siegenthaler. Siegenthaler was one of the more promising Caps defensive prospects. He made the jump to full time NHLer this season.
He played up and down the lineup as well. He played some alongside John Carlson on the first D pair before eventually finding his spot on the 3rd pairing.
He, of course, had some up and down moments, but that’s to be expected from a young guy. There is plenty of time for the 23-year-old to find consistency and even a bigger role. But scoring 2 goals and putting up 9 points, and probably more importantly being a +11 in your first season as a pro, not bad!
While not the best or flashiest player on this list, he may turn out to be a very good defenseman in the future, and for being picked number 57, that’s a heck of a pickup.