An old friend has made a return to the NHL, signing a contract with the San Jose Sharks just days before training camps open around the league.
Ilya Samsonov, has signed a one-year, two-way deal with the Sharks this week after spending last season in the KHL. While with HK Sochi, the 29-year-old put upn a .903 save percentage in 14 games -- apparently that's good enough to get a call from a team wanting to make the next step towards being a competitive organization.
✍️ We’ve signed goaltender Ilya Samsonov.
— San Jose Sharks (@SanJoseSharks) September 8, 2026
Samsonov was last with the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL, for a total of 29 games in the 2024-25 season -- and did not do very well in those games, since he earned an .891 save percentage. No teams wanted him after that, so he went back home for a season and has now made a grand return.
Samsonov had highs and lows in Toronto
But he was once seen as a potential future piece in Toronto. The Maple Leafs signed him to a one-year contract after he was not given a qualifying offer by the Washington Capitals, all the way back in 2022. Then, he had the youth and pedigree as a former first-round pick to maybe be something for the Leafs.
His first season in Toronto went exceptionally well. A .919 save percentage in 42 games during the 2022-23 season showed immense promise is someone who could be a long-term solution. But he followed that up with a disappointing playoff performance, and then a 2023-24 season that he would like to forget.
Samsonov's second and final season with the Leafs was basically the complete opposite. He had an .890 save percentage in 40 games and despite having a 23-7-8 record with him in net, he also earned a 3.13 goals against average. The Leafs won despite him being in between the pipes.
That horrific campaign -- and a bad payoffs to match -- led the Leafs to being fine with letting him walk as an unrestricted free agent over to Vegas. And now, we're here as the Sharks are trying to collect mediocre goalies like they are going out of business.
San Jose already has three goalies on their NHL roster: Projected starter Yaroslav Askarov, Alex Nedeljkovic, and Eric Comrie. And now, they have Samsonov to add to that mix as well as AHL netminder Kyle Keyser. Maybe they view Samsonov as just pure depth and the veteran Russian netminder just wants to be back in North America so he's willing to start the season in the AHL and wait for a couple more players to get injured ahead of him on the depth chart.
That is an interesting strategy. But now, he's here and the Leafs might have the pleasure of facing him at some point this season.
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