{"id":457693,"date":"2026-09-09T00:22:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T00:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/457693\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T00:22:16","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T00:22:16","slug":"sharks-add-goalie-depth-sign-former-capitals-2015-1st-rounder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/457693\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks Add Goalie Depth, Sign Former Capitals 2015 1st-Rounder"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Jose Sharks signed goaltender Ilya Samsonov to a one-year, two-way contract, the team announced<\/a> on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Samsonov, 29, is returning to North America after spending the 25-26 season in the KHL. The Washington Capitals<\/a> selected the new Sharks goalie with the 22nd pick in the 2015 NHL Draft. Samsonov had a strong start to his career, but injuries and inconsistent play led him to bounce around the league. He eventually went to the KHL.<\/p>\n

Samsonov spent two seasons with the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> and one with the Vegas Golden Knights<\/a>. In his final NHL season, Samsonov had a 16-9-4 record. Although the record was nice, the numbers didn\u2019t back it up too much. In 29 games, all starts, the new Sharks goalie had an .891 save % and a 2.82 GAA. For his career, Samsonov has a .902 save % in 200 games.<\/p>\n

The #SJSharks<\/a> have added some goaltending depth as they announced the signing of goalie Ilya Samsonov to a one-year, Two-way contract.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Max Miller (@Real_Max_Miller) September 8, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

The move by the San Jose Sharks may come as a bit of a surprise. GM Mike Grier<\/a> addressed the organization\u2019s goalie depth by signing Eric Comrie<\/a> to a two-year contract on July 1st.<\/p>\n

One thing has been clear with the Sharks since Grier took over: internal competition. That could be the motive behind signing Samsonov. Plus, as a former first-round pick, there could be some more potential to be unlocked. Sharks goalie coach\/guru Thomas Speer has a history of goalie reclamation projects. The best two examples are Mackenzie Blackwood<\/a> and Devin Cooley, both of whom have received nice extensions with the Colorado Avalanche<\/a> and Calgary Flames<\/a>, respectively.<\/p>\n

Another reason for this move could be to protect against the Sharks losing a goalie on waivers. There is no reason to suggest that the team won\u2019t start with Yaroslav Askarov<\/a> and Alex Nedeljkovic<\/a> as its two goalies. Training camp begins next week, and unless there is an unknown injury to one of them, Samsonov looks like he\u2019d be headed to waivers with Comrie.<\/p>\n

Finally, the San Jose Sharks have been linked to Winnipeg Jets<\/a> superstar goalie Connor Hellebuyck<\/a>. While there is no confirmed interest, many hockey pundits believe that the Sharks could be a nice landing spot for the gold medalist. Based on Grier\u2019s history of trade talks, he\u2019s likely checked in on the price for Hellebuyck, but that is NOT confirmed.<\/p>\n

One dark horse team for Connor Hellebuyck: the San Jose Sharks.<\/p>\n

I haven’t heard them as a landing spot but, on paper, it would make sense.<\/p>\n

They have Askarov (who wasn’t good last yr) but Hellebuyck would catapult them to a top team in the Pacific. @DailyFaceoff<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Anthony Di Marco (@ADiMarco25) August 28, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

While unlikely, the signing of Samsonov could give the Sharks more depth at goalie if they were to put together a package for Hellebuyck. At this moment, SHD doesn\u2019t believe the Sharks will go after Hellebuyck. The organization thinks highly of Askarov, and Joshua Ravensburgen\u2019s<\/a> potential is also well documented. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Jose Sharks signed goaltender Ilya Samsonov to a one-year, two-way contract, the team announced on Tuesday.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457694,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[4215,88791,35822,180585,4401,88,90,89,98,755,17611,2992,8614,8319,3516],"class_list":["post-457693","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-jose","tag-alex-nedeljkovic","tag-connor-hellebuyck","tag-eric-comrie","tag-ilya-samonov","tag-mike-grier","tag-san-jose","tag-san-jose-headlines","tag-san-jose-news","tag-san-jose-sharks","tag-sj-sharks","tag-thomas-speer","tag-toronto-maple-leafs","tag-vegas-golden-knights","tag-washington-capitals","tag-yaroslav-askarov"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457693","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457693"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457693\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457693"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457693"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457693"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}