Someone keeps sabotaging Ilya Samsonov’s career. hot-dog-tim-robinson-trying-to-find-the-guy.gif.
Visualization by HockeyViz
About this visualization: This series of charts made by Micah Blake McCurdy of hockeyviz.com shows lots of information for the player over the season. A short description of each chart:
- Ice time per game, split up by game state
- 5-on-5 adjusted shot attempts by the team (black) and opponents (red)
- 5-on-5 adjusted shooting percentage by the team (black) and opponents (red)
Fan Happiness Survey
About this visualization: At three times during the season (end of January, end of March, and end of May), RMNB shared an open survey with fans, asking the following question for each player:
On a scale from 1 to 5, how HAPPY are you to have this player on the team?
1 means VERY UNHAPPY TO HAVE THEM ON THE TEAM
2 means UNHAPPY
3 means NEITHER HAPPY NOR UNHAPPY
4 means HAPPY
5 means VERY HAPPY TO HAVE THEM ON THE TEAM
The numbers above show the average score for the player in each survey period.
Peter’s Take
Being the goalie for the Washington Capitals isn’t a static thing. It was a very different job in 2014 (hard) than it was in 2016 (easy) than it was in 2018 (really hard) than it is now (kinda cushy). There weren’t five nets in the NHL more open for a contender than the Caps’ after Braden Holtby left, and yet Ilya Samsonov fumbled it multiple times.
He missed the 2020 playoffs with an injury, returned for exactly one game before getting suspended for breaking COVID protocols, and then he did it again right before the 2021 playoffs, returning just in time to put up a marvelous performance — and then blow it in one of those goof-ups that wouldn’t happen if you didn’t miss half of the prior season. Tragic, really. Euripides is like, “uh, that’s a bit much.”
But I included the chart above of Samsonov’s saves above expectation per game because I think it shows how good he was prior to the ATV accident. Every goalie has disaster games (those big downward spikes), and the key to longevity in the NHL is putting them behind you. Samsonov is going through a different kind of disaster right now, one that he made, and now he’s put it behind him.
Personally, I think he can do it. His RFA negotiation is gonna suck, and he’s gonna have to eat a bit of crow, but his future will be brighter than his past.
Sammy on RMNB
- Above are Samsonov’s (rarely used) masks for the season.
- After two appearances, Samsonov went on the COVID protocol for a while. He later told the media he was very sick indeed while out.
- After some iffy stints with Hershey, he returned to the Caps at the end of February.
- In March, on his conditioning: “I think I’m 100 percent”
- Samsonov recorded his first NHL point the next day.
- Hey this was scary as hell. (Samsonov returned a bit later.)
- It’s always a good sign when you can tilt an opponent into breaking their stick.
- Late in April Samsonov became the first Caps goalie ever to record a shutout in a shootout win.
- Samsonov was super close to getting named playoff starter, getting back-to-back starts.
- And then he got suspended again. And then Laviolette decided not to name a starter after all.
- In my opinion, there wasn’t a huge difference between the goalies anyway this year.
- With Vanecek hurt and Anderson old, Samsonov got a surprise start in Game Three. How’d that go?
- Well, Samsonov played lights out all the way up until handing the OTGWG to Craig Smith. So much for that shot at redemption. Samsonov allowed 4 on 37 shots and 3 on 19 shots in his remaining games.
- He’ll have another chance next season.
Your Turn
We can talk about the big goof-up on Monday — that’s the Schultz review. We’ve also got Vanecek coming up, when I’ll get into a bit more head-to-head analysis. For now, tell me what it would look like for Ilya Samsonov to get back to good.
Read more: Japers Rink
