3 Washington Capitals Who Will Likely Be Traded Before Deadline

#1 Ilya Samsonov

This isn’t Ilya Samsonov slander. The situation here just didn’t work out and now it looks like Vitek Vanecek has seized the reign of the starting goaltending job. And rumors are hot right now that the Caps could trade one of their two netminders for a veteran goalie.

There’s the Marc-Andre Fleury rumors. There’s also talks about a potential Braden Holtby reunion. The first option would be tricky for the Caps to pull off and they would have to hope the Chicago Blackhawks retain a bit of his salary.

Samsonov has a 13-4-3 record which does look good on the surface… until you look at his other stats and inconsistencies. He has a 2.77 goals against average and a .903 save percentage. His goals against average is a career worst.

Samsonov had his share of struggles off the ice. This year his only issues have been on the ice as far as we know. Last season he was late to a team function with Evgeny Kuznetsov and Peter Laviolette of course doesn’t play around. The year before that he missed the bubble due to an ATV accident.

It is very likely the goaltending could look different come playoff time. Do you trust Ilya Samsonov and Vitek Vanecek to guide the team toward a Cup? Or do you look to a veteran?