The comparables used by both the Leafs and Ilya Samsonov in his arbitration case have been revealed

Published July 25, 2023 at 1:37 PM
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On Sunday, Leafs goaltender Ilya Samsonov was granted a $3.55M award in salary arbitration. The move was nearly sliced right down the middle, as the Leafs' original offer was $2.4M, while Samsonov's ask was $4.9M.

During the arbitration process, many were curious as to who the Leafs might be using for contract comparables to state their case, while others were curious as to whom the Samsonov camp was looking at from a salary perspective. Now, thanks to The Hockey News' David Alter, we have our answer.

According to David Alter during the arbitration hearing, Ilya Samsonov's camp used Juuse Saros and Jake Oettinger as comparables, while the Maple Leafs used Alexandar Georgiev and Vitek Vanecek for salary purposes.




Both Georgiev and Vanecek carry $3.4M cap hits, while Saros carries a $5M cap hit and Oettinger carries a $4M cap hit. The Leafs were reportedly attempting to argue for a lower cap hit than both Georgiev and Vanecek, as each of them signed their deals knowing that they were committing UFA years to their respective teams.

In the end, the Leafs may have gotten a bit of a raw deal here in that they didn't have the luxury of buying up any of Samsonov's UFA years with his $3.55M deal. He'll be an unrestricted free agent next summer and will immediately rocket into the top 3 UFA goalies, along with Connor Hellebuyck and Marc-Andre Fleury, which could lead to a bidding war for his services.
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July 25   |   54 answers
The comparables used by both the Leafs and Ilya Samsonov in his arbitration case have been revealed

Do you think Samsonov got too much in arbitration?

Yes, he was worth less1527.8 %
No, it's fair value2750 %
It's a good deal for both sides1222.2 %
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