Rumors of Ilya Samsonov going to Montreal: Capitals GM throws fuel on the fire
Since we learned that Montreal Canadiens GM Kent Hughes spoke with Washington Capitals GM Brian MacLellan earlier this season about a potential trade involving promising goaltender Ilya Samsonov, this story has been getting a lot of press in Montreal.
Well, yesterday, as part of the Caps' post-season wrap-up, the goaltending issue was quickly addressed and MacLellan made a big statement.
He confirmed to reporters on hand that this will be the organization's number one priority and that the first big move of the summer, for Washington, will be to address the situation in front of their net.
Their duo of Vitek Vanecek and Ilya Samsonov has been a question mark, and they'll fix that this summer.
Brian MacLellan has always been 100% transparent. He would like to keep one of the two youngsters (Samsonov or Vanecek) and bring in a veteran to complete the duo. He was notably very aggressive at the trade deadline in trying to acquire Marc-Andre Fleury.
In his season review, GM MacLellan threw gasoline on the fire:
As reported by our colleagues at Marker.com, the Capitals GM admits he may move to settle the matter:
"Talking to other teams" as in calling Kent Hughes and the Montreal Canadiens back about Samsonov, perhaps? You be the judge, but rarely is there so much smoke without fire.
It doesn't mean that Ilya Samsonov will be traded to Montreal, but it's safe to assume that there will be intense discussions in that sense behind the scenes.
While Kent Hughes admitted (last week) that he doesn't have a number one goalie of the future in the organization, this will certainly be a file that he will follow closely.
Remember that two months ago, Marc Denis released information that surprised many people: the Habs have studied the option of acquiring goalie Ilya Samsonov
To be continued! We are talking about a very promising goalie, with the potential to become an Andrei Vasilevskiy or an Igor Shesterkin, but for that, he must mature.
One thing is certain, the talent is there. For more details:
| POLL | ||
MAI 16 | 398 ANSWERS Rumors of Ilya Samsonov going to Montreal: Capitals GM throws fuel on the fire Would you like Kent Hughes to acquire Ilya Samsonov? | ||
| Yes | 263 | 66.1 % |
| No | 135 | 33.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
