Ilya Samsonov testing free agency in thin goalie market
Ilya Samsonov is not intending to re-sign with the Vegas Golden Knights and will instead test the open market on July 1, Sportsnet has learned.
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Ilya Samsonov is not intending to re-sign with the Vegas Golden Knights and will instead test the open market on July 1, Sportsnet has learned.
No goaltender set to become an unrestricted free agent had a better record in 2024-25 than the 28-year-old Russian’s 16-9-4 mark in Vegas.
The Golden Knights already have No. 1 Adin Hill, 29, and Akira Schmid, 25, under contract for next season at a combined $7.125 million and are looking to maximize their cap space and get back to a Stanley Cup Final.
Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon — hotly rumoured to have interest in top pending free agent Mitch Marner — believes the Knights underachieved in their second-round loss to the Edmonton Oilers.
“To me, it was a missed opportunity because I felt our team was good enough to win,” McCrimmon told reporters upon elimination. “We’ve got Tanner Pearson, Victor Olofsson, Reilly Smith, Brandon Saad, and Ilya Samsonov with expiring contracts on June 30.
“There’s a really good case to be made for a lot of those players. I think they played well here for us. So, we’ll make those decisions. And then depending on how that goes, that can dictate to some extent what you do on July 1 with free agency. But we’re going to do everything we can to make our team better.”
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Samsonov, who trains in Florida during the summer, is concluding a one-year, $1.8-million contract with Vegas — a deal that was a pay cut from the $3.55 million he earned in Toronto the previous season.
He posted a 2.82 goals-against average, and a .891 save percentage. He did not see action during the Knights’ post-season.
The market for goaltenders is particularly thin this summer.
Of all the pending UFA goalies, only New Jersey backup Jake Allen (.908) and Ottawa backup Anton Forsberg (.901) posted a save percentage above the league-wide .900 average.
Absent of any surefire starters, Samsonov will be competing for jobs with veterans such as Allen, Forsberg, Alexandar Georgiev, Alex Lyon, Dan Vladar, James Reimer, David Rittich, Ville Husso, Vitek Vanecek, and Chris Driedger.
General managers eager to shore up their crease with a higher-end option may be encouraged to look at the trade market (John Gibson’s name keeps circulating) or take a swing at offer-sheeting a restricted free agent (Joel Hofer? Jakub Dobes?) left unsigned beyond June 30.
