Toronto Maple Leafs: Ilya Samsonov Could Be the Next Jack Campbell

The Toronto Maple Leafs have done a total turn over of their goaltending this offseason.  They  will start the 2022-23 season with a new goaltending coach, and two new goaltenders.

Despite placing 5th the NHL standings last season, the Toronto Maple Leafs had some of the worst goaltending in the league ranking 25th in expected goals against. (stats from moneypuck.com)

Now, Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov will mind the Leafs net with guidance from goalie coach, Curtis Sanford.  There are many naysayers who believe the Leafs have gotten worse in net, but really, they can’t get much worse.

At first glance, it seems like Jack Campbell had a great season with a .914 save percentage and a 2.64 goals against average.  These goalie stats are tricky though, as his 5v5 numbers were not good, and he was frequently injured, forcing the Leafs to rely on backups.   Also, while he started strong for the first couple of months last season, his stats got worse as the season went on.

A more telling stat may be goals saved above expected per 60, where Jack Campbell ranked 32nd among goaltenders to play at least 20 games and Matt Murray ranked 16th while getting shelled behind the terrible defense of the Ottawa Senators.

Ilya Samsonov Could Be the Toronto Maple Leafs Next Jack Campbell

There are a lot of similarities between Ilya Samsonov and Jack Campbell.  Both were first round draft picks.  Both were acquired by the Toronto Maple Leafs for backup rolls.

Since Jack Campbell was drafted 11th overall in 2010, only Andre Vasilevskiy (19th in 2012), Jake Oettinger (26th in 2017), Spencer Knight (13h in 2019), Yaroslav Askarov (11th in 2020), Sebastian Cossa (15th in 2021), Jesper Wallstedt (20th in 2021) and Ilya Samsonov (22nd in 2015) have been drafted in the first round.

It’s unheard of for a goaltender to excel in the KHL as an 18 year old, but Samsonov did just that.  He also represented Russia twice at the U20 World Juniors and was selected as the goalie for the 2017 U20 WJC All-Star team.

Samsonov definitely has potential, and though he only had a .896 save percentage in 44 games with the Washington Capitals last season, Jack Campbell wasn’t much better with a .900 save percentage in 20 games with the LA Kings before Toronto acquired him in 2020.

Jack Campbell had his struggles entering the NHL, and Samsonov has as well.  Samsonov entered the league during the first pandemic season as a 22 year old.  It’s hard enough for a goaltender to enter the league at such a young age even if he didn’t have to deal with the world of Covid.

Samsonov, Murray and Erik Kallgren have all had an excellent preseason so far, but it is only preseason.  We’ll have to wait to see how they do during the season and into the playoffs.  It’s too early to judge yet.