Ilya Samsonov is en route to Washington.
The Capitals backup goaltender posted a selfie from inside the airplane while his wife Maria shared video of an airplane taking off.
“Back to Washington,” she wrote.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman is reporting that the NHL is telling players who need visa extensions to play in the postseason to return to their home cities by June 21. This would require certain foreign players to return to North America 19 days before the potential start of Phase 3, training camps, on July 10.
Most player visas expire on June – the final day of NHL contracts and the end of the league’s calendar year.
By Ian Oland 3 weeks ago
Ilya Samsonov did a Russian language interview on Instagram Live with Oleg Romashko on Thursday. Romashko hosts a hockey school for young goaltenders in Moscow.
The Capitals backup goaltender, who’s back home in Russia, gave all sorts of insight into his career during the three-hour chat where he also answered questions from fans. Samsonov revealed that he first played goalie at age 7 and it’s all he ever wanted to be.
He also talked about advice he received from his Russian Capitals teammates once he made the NHL.
“My arms were even shaking and then Dmitry told me, ‘Why are you nervous? The game is the same one as you played during preseason, nothing special.’ And Ovi added, ‘Don’t worry. Just do your job and we’ll help you and score.’ When I stopped a couple of shots at the match, I even forgot that it’s my first game,” Samsonov said.
Alex Ovechkin is becoming a father of two boys. Ovechkin’s wife, Nastya Ovechkina, announced the gender of her baby in an Instagram post celebrating her recent baby shower. Sergei is going to become an older brother.
The party was organized by Varvara Orlova, Dmitry Orlov’s wife.
Losers of five of their last six games, Ilya Samsonov (16-4-1) will get the start in goal on Saturday against the New Jersey Devils. Saturday will mark Samsonov’s 23rd birthday.
Braden Holtby (21-13-5), who has been spectacular lately, will get the nod against the first-place Pittsburgh Penguins.
Braden Holtby is an unrestricted free agent at season’s end. Despite Brian MacLellan making it pretty clear that the team was holding onto Holtby and would talk contract with him after the year, the Capitals general manager was asked by the media during his press conference on Wednesday if Braden would still be on the team after the trade deadline.
“Braden? Yeah,” a surprised MacLellan said. “I think our story has been the same the whole year. He’s our guy and we’re going to try and compete for a (Stanley) Cup. We want him playing the top of his game at the end of the year.”
The Washington Capitals decided to hold Ilya Samsonov out of tonight’s game against the Los Angeles Kings. According to the Washington Post’s Samantha Pell, Samsonov is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
Slated to back up Braden Holtby, Samsonov yielded his spot on the bench to Vitek Vanecek, who was called up early this afternoon. Vanecek was recently named MVP of the 2020 AHL All-Star Game.
Martin Fehervary is not the only player the Capitals are calling up today. They have also summoned AHL All-Star Game MVP goalie Vitek Vanecek from Hershey.
The reason for Vitek’s recall is because Ilya Samsonov left practice early this morning after getting injured by an Alex Ovechkin shot during a rush drill.
The puck struck Sammy on the chin area of his mask. The force of the shot knocked the bucket off his head.
Ilya Samsonov will start against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Super Bowl Sunday.
The nationally telecast home game on NBC would normally be a slam-dunk start for Braden Holtby. However, after defeating the Ottawa Senators 5-3 Friday and winning 11-straight decisions, Samsonov will receive consecutive starts for the second time this season.
Ilya Samsonov recently did a long interview with sport24.ru’s Daria Tuboltseva. The interview was translated by Merdan16 on the Capitals’ Reddit and proofed for correction by RMNB’s Igor Kleyner. The Capitals’ rookie goaltender spoke about his special season in a remarkably low-key way.
“My job is to go out and play hockey,” Samsonov said when asked that he’s beginning to get buzz for the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s best rookie. “I don’t think about personal prizes.”
But when the conversation turned to Braden Holtby, Samsonov showed both admiration and empathy.
