Two new Leafs have legitimate potential for breakout seasons
Many Leafs fans have been less than thrilled with the acquisitions of Matt Murray and Ilya Samsonov and have let Dubas know loud and clear on social media. However, both Murray and Samsonov could be poised for breakout seasons.
Samsonov is only 25 and when Jack Campbell was his age, he had only played in just 2 regular season games and only 5 the following season. Samsonov has already played in 89 career regular season NHL games and has a career save percentage of a little over .900. Not great by any means, but also not horrible. Once viewed as the heir apparent in Washington, the Caps appeared to have given up on developing Samsonov fairly early into his NHL career. Their loss, our gain.
Murray, at 28, has played in almost double the amount of games as Campbell has and has 2 Stanley Cups to boot. While the loss of his father in 2018 along with his injuries the past few seasons have severely hindered him, late last season Murray showed he is still capable of performing at a high level posting a .906 save percentage in 20 games with the Sens. You wouldn't know it, but were it not for his final two games before suffering a concussion, Murray was actually one of the top goalies in the NHL over an 18-game stretch.
Both Samsonov and Murray are coming into this season with something to prove. Murray wants to show he can still play at the level he was at earlier in his career and at the end of last season. Samsonov, on the other hand, was once dubbed as the "Next Vasilevskiy" by former Capital and current Caps goalie coach Olaf Kolzig.
Samsonov chose to sign a 1-year deal because he wants to prove he can be a number 1. With both coming into the season with a chip on their shoulder and working with Curtis Sanford (responsible for Thatcher Demko's rise) and the revamped Leaf goaltending department, the potential of one or both having redemption seasons is far greater than both struggling.
