What we should expect for Samsonov's workload over the next couple of weeks
Let's just address the elephant in the room right now. Ilya Samsonov has been downright awful for the Leafs this season, aside from a fairly solid performance in Boston last week. Samsonov has been pulled twice, is 2-1-2 on the season, owns a horrendous 4.11 GAA and a .855 SV% which is well below the league average. All of this from a guy who fought fist, tooth and nail during arbitration for a near $5M cap hit. At this point, his value to the team is well below his $3.55M arbitration award. Sorry, Sammy, I know it's hard to hear, but trust me - it's tough to watch as well.
On that note, at least Samsonov is trying to do something about it. He was on the ice early this morning, ahead of Leafs practice, getting in some extra work with Nik Antropov, Shane Doan and goalie coach Curtis Sanford. This is exactly what you want to see from a guy who needs to re-discover the magic that he had shown last season.
For Samsonov, his mental health has taken a huge hit through all of this. A couple of short weeks back, he very openly addressed that his early-season struggles are taking a toll on him and on Monday against Tampa, when he spiked his helmet after being pulled, it was very clear that he's really fighting it right now.
Samsonov's presence on the ice before practice is a good indicator that Joseph Woll will get the nod tonight against Ottawa - and rightfully so. Woll has been the better of the two netminders this season and it's pretty clear-cut. Through 7 appearances this season, Woll is 4-3-0 with a 2.30 GAA and a .930 SV%, which includes two relief wins, coming in for Samsonov against the Tampa Bay Lightning on October 21st and November 6th.
I have to imagine that the Leafs are going to give Woll a bit of a run here to allow Samsonov some time to work with the goalie department to fix some of what's wrong with him right now. If I'm the Leafs, Woll would be getting 4 of the next 5 starts, with Samsonov starting Friday's game against a struggling Calgary Flames team, who are 4-7-1 on the season. I certainly wouldn't give Samsonov the 2nd half of a back-to-back against the red-hot Canucks on Saturday, because that wouldn't really be putting him in a position to succeed with the Canucks leading the league in goals for and boasting the best goal differential in the league (+30).
The Leafs have 5-day break coming up between games following the Canucks game, which should give Samsonov plenty of practice time. As I said, I'd probably give Woll tonight's game, then Saturday's game in Vancouver, November 17th's game against Detroit and November 19th's game against Minnesota before allowing a hopefully rejuvenated Samsonov to draw back in on November 24th in an afternoon game against Chicago, but that's just me.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 8 | 305 ANSWERS What we should expect for Samsonov's workload over the next couple of weeks How many of the next 5 games do you think Joseph Woll should start? | ||
| All 5 | 67 | 22 % |
| 4 Woll, 1 Sammy | 110 | 36.1 % |
| 3 Woll, 2 Sammy | 106 | 34.8 % |
| 2 Woll, 3 Sammy | 22 | 7.2 % |
| List of polls | ||
