Samsonov will be the only player on the Leafs not to wear the logo, but will not be the first Russian player around the league to refuse wearing it, the first notably being Flyers' defenceman
Ivan Provorov. Laws in Russia, essentially being a theocracy with Russian Orthodox Christianity, have been speculated as the reason why Samsonov refused to participate. Provorov himself noted it was his personal beliefs, while Samsonov was not made available to the media.