Major update in Ilya Samsonov's future with Maple Leafs

The deadline for National Hockey League players to file for salary arbitration has now come and gone, and you can go ahead and count Toronto Maple Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov among the 22 players who indeed chose to file. 

Samsonov is coming off his first year with the Maple Leafs on a one-year contract that was given to him by now-former Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas.

The massive gamble by Dubas to bring in both Samsonov and Matt Murray paid off, at least half of it. Murray's time with the Leafs appears all but officially over, while Samsonov has talked openly about how he'd love to stay with the Leafs. 

His 2022-23 record of 27-10-5 with a 2.33 goals against average and .919 save percentage was about as good a performance as anyone could have expected, and while his postseason numbers weren't stellar, he was still able to out-duel former Conn Smythe Trophy-winning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy in Round 1. 

Samsonov's deal was worth $1.8 million. 

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