Ilya Samsonov and the Toronto Maple Leafs elected to go to salary arbitration last Friday in order to sort out the goalies' contract for the upcoming season. On Sunday, Samsonov was awarded a 1 year, 3.55 million dollar deal in arbitration.
Arbitration can sometimes be a contentious time, but it appears neither party left with any hard feelings. During the arbitration both parties presented their comparables for potential contracts. While these comparables don't always get released, Toronto Sports reporter David Alter was able to uncover the comparables that both parties used.
While Samsonov had an outstanding season last year, he still only played roughly half the teams games at 42, and with only 89 NHL games to his credit, 4.9 million was a little lofty, but comparing his play to that of Jake Oettinger and Jusse Saros cheapens not only how good they are, but over values Samsonov at the same time.
The Leafs choosing to go with Alexadar Georgiev and Vitek Vanecek is much more reasonably not only in terms of performance, but in NHL experience as well. The arbitrator agreed with the Leafs and awarded Samsonov a contract much closer to the Leafs ask compared to Samsonov.
