Its been a day since the Oilers signed goaltender Stuart Skinner to a 3-year extension worth $2.6M per season. The news shouldn't have come as a shock as Skinner has posted a respectable .915 save percentage and a modest 2.83 goals against in his 19 games this season. But there is a Maple Leaf who is doing much better and is equally if not more deserving of a multi-year extension of his own.
Taking a look at pending RFA Iyla Samsonov, the numbers have been above and beyond what the Maple Leafs were looking for out of the 25-year-old. In 12GP, Samsonov is sporting 1.98 goals against average and a .929 save percentage with 2 shutouts. This should make him the Maple Leafs' #1 priority in the offseason - that is, other than Matthews' extension, which he is eligible to sign on July 1st.
Samsonov's career stats show that he is more than capable of being a solid goaltender when he gets the nod, as is shown by his career winning percentage. If the Leafs were smart, they would lock him up sooner rather than later, or they run the risk of another Jack Campbell situation, where the better he plays, the more money he will command. The main difference here Samsonov is a pending RFA not a pending UFA and so the Leafs will have an element of control over the Russian netminder. It should be mentioned though that Samsonov does have arbitration rights.
There hasn't been any mention of an extension being considered, but one would think if Samsonov can keep up his torrid pace, that the Maple Leafs might come knocking sooner rather than later.
