Washington Capitals: Three Biggest Questions as we Approach the Regular Season

Ilya Samsonov or Vitek Vanecek? New Guard vs New Guard

Who is going to take the reigns in Washington and be the team’s #1 goalie come playoff time? An outstanding 1A/1B duo, Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek are sure to both be huge contributors all season long for the Washington Capitals but come the playoffs, it’s important that one of these guys secures the starting position.

Many inside and outside of the organization hope it will be Samsonov. The former first-round selection is clearly the more athletically gifted of the two netminders and has the higher potential but Vanecek is the one who has shown he has the intangibles to succeed in the NHL. Samsonov has had a turbulent start to his career. The Russian netminder missed the playoffs in his rookie campaign due to an ATV accident he sustained during the NHL’s COVID pause and a season ago, he wound up on the NHL’s COVID-19 protocol list twice and lost his starting job to Vitek Vanecek because of it.

Ilya Samsonov has shown flashes of brilliance but can’t seem to put it altogether. Game three of last year’s first-round series against the Bruins best sums up Samsonov. The young netminder put his team on his back, making numerous incredible saves all night long and he was the reason the Washington Capitals made it to OT but he was also the reason the Capitals lost in OT.

The infamous miscommunication between Samsonov and Justin Schultz is what ultimately turned the series in favor of the Bruins. Samsonov looked like a hero until that one pivotal mistake, a mistake that is caused, at least in part, by a player spending over 30 days in COVID-19 protocol over two separate stretches and missing crucial practice time. Peter Hassett of Russian Machine Never Breaks summed it up best last season. Mistakes like that and the behavior leading up to it are what is holding Samsonov back.

Vitek Vanecek on the other hand doesn’t possess the pure athleticism that his partner does, but that isn’t to say he can’t be a starter in the NHL. All he did was get thrust onto the scene a season ago when he was expected to be a third goalie at best and lead the Washington Capitals into the playoffs. Vanecek finished sixth in Calder voting and led all rookies in wins, finishing the year with a 21-10-4 record, a .908 save percentage and a goals against average of 2.69. An untimely hamstring injury just minutes into his playoff debut cut his season short, but Vitek Vanecek made it clear he can be a number one goalie. The Capitals believe in him and showed it when they traded a second-round selection to the Seattle Kraken to get their young netminder back.

Sure, the Capitals used a first-round selection on Samsonov and many point to that as to who the Capitals believe their number one is but they have used two second-round picks on Vanecek. It’s clear that the Capitals are confident in both of their goalies. There is no goalie controversy in Washington come October, but come April, if one of these two hasn’t clearly come out on top there is going to be spirited debate in DC as to who gets the net in game one of the playoffs.