Samsonov in Serious Trouble

 

 

My last article talked about how I thought Ilya Samsonov looked like he was coming out of whatever funk he was in. He had shut out Nashville he battled and helped the Leafs get to Overtime against the Islanders but forget all that last night told me that Ilya Samsonov’s issue isn’t technique his issue is between the ears. Last night against Buffalo Ilya looked like someone who didn’t want to be in goal, he looked like someone who couldn’t handle being in the moment. There were goals where Samsonov had a clear lane for the shot and didn’t even react. When he was pulled after the 5^th Buffalo goal Samsonov’s body language and attitude were just awful, he was a goalie who was defeated before the game even started. Sheldon Keefe after the game said the team needs to play better in their end and that’s obvious but at the same time when a team is playing with a goalie who has zero confidence, if every shot their goalie faces goes in then the team isn’t going to have much confidence either. Martin Jones came in, in relief and gave up four goals but trust me if last night’s game was 4-3 late in the 3^rd period with Jones in all night, then Toronto’s effort would have been much better, and Toronto likely would have completed the comeback.

Last night I had fans telling me Sheldon Keefe should be fired for starting Samsonov, and to those fans, I say please stop watching hockey because it is beneficial to the sport. Sheldon was right in starting Samsonov because with Woll injured you can’t just run with Martin Jones. It’s a long season and you have to manage each goalie’s workload. You don’t gain your confidence by working in practice you also have to play because sitting on the bench isn’t going to suddenly make Samsonov the goalie, we saw last year. However, last night proved that right now Ilya Samsonov can’t start in the National Hockey League.

When Woll returns hopefully midway through January I think Toronto has to go with Joe Woll and Martin Jones as their tandem in net and Ilya’s next start has to come in the American League with the Marlies. There he can just work on rebuilding his confidence. If I’m Brad Treliving all I want from Ilya on the Marlies is wins. At first, I wouldn’t care if he wins games 5-4 just win because that will help him feel like when he’s in goal he can give his team a chance. After he picks up a few wins then you work on details. You would then set objectives for your goalie. If for example Samsonov had 5 starts where he won but gave up 4 goals well then in his sixth start you test him and challenge him to only allow a maximum of three goals. Then two, then one, and so on. If Sammy can meet those challenges his confidence will only continue to grow because he will already know that the opponent isn’t going to score because he is ready for the shots, he’ll face he’ll be squaring up to shots better because he will already know he’s going to stop it.

We know that Ilya is capable of being a starting goalie in this league remember he took over from Matt Murray winning 27 games and he beat Andrei Vasilevsky for the series win. I have seen so many fans write the guy off saying things like “he’s trash” and “he’s embarrassing” when those same fans this summer were pleading for Toronto to sign him because “he’s our guy”. Toronto plays again Saturday night in Columbus before heading home for Christmas and hopefully, the Leafs can pick up the win and go into the break on a positive note.

Thanks as always for reading.