Leafs look to be making a surprising goaltending decision against the Sharks tonight

According to Sports Illustrated's David Alter, the Leafs could be preparing to announce that Ilya Samsonov will make his first start on Wednesday, after missing the last few weeks with a knee injury.

Alter confirmed on Wednesday morning that Samsonov had occupied the home net at the optional skate, which typically indicates that a goaltender is slated to start. Meanwhile, 200 feet at the other end of the ice, Matt Murray was present, occupying the road net.

Murray has started 6 games over the last 2 weeks, which is a pretty heavy workload. Perhaps his absence from practice yesterday was about load management. The same could be said about today's optional skate as the backup.

Samsonov spoke with the media yesterday, confirming that he had "no pain" in his knee and stated that he was good to go. As of yesterday's practice, the coaching staff had not yet made a decision on when Samsonov would be cleared to return. He was still listed as day-to-day yesterday, but his presence in the starter's net today could be a pretty good indicator that he'll get the nod against the Sharks, hi first start since November 5th.