Samsonov back with Caps after conditioning stint, bout with COVID; Anderson, Fucale demoted
Washington Capitals fans received some good news on Friday with the announcement that goaltender Ilya Samsonov had finished his conditioning stint with the team's AHL affiliate, the Hershey Bears, and has been recalled to the main roster.
Samsonov was one of four Capitals players (Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeny Kuznetsov and Dmitry Orlov were the others) who broke the NHL's COVID-19 protocols and gathered together outside of an NHL facility.
This infraction resulted in a subsequent four-game suspension for each player, issued by the team, but it was worse for Samsonov and Kuznetsov, who eventually tested positive for COVID-19 and were forced to self isolate, missing weeks of action instead.
The Caps, owners of an 8-4-3 record, currently sit in a tie for 2nd in the East Division with the Philadelphia Flyers - though the Flyers have a game-in-hand.
It will be interesting to see how the Caps plan to reintegrate Samsonov into the picture, as 25-year-old Vitek Vanacek has performed quite well in the early going, posting a 7-3-2 record, with a 2.90 GAA and a. 909 SV% in 13 appearances this season, the first of his young NHL career.
Vanacek has out-performed Samsonov this season, though his 23-year-old Russian counterpart has been limited to just two appearances in 2020-21, posting a very forgettable 3.36 GAA to go along with a .868 SV%. Those numbers can improve very quickly with a couple of quality starts from Samsonov, who was thought to be the frontrunner to take over as the Caps' No.1 following the departure of Braden Holtby, who signed with the Canucks as a UFA.
Samsonov figures to land one of the starts for Washington this weekend against either the New York Rangers on Saturday or the New Jersey Devils on Sunday.
Veteran Craig Anderson has been re-assigned to the taxi squad, while Zach Fucale moves down to Hershey in the AHL.
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mitch Marner | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Logan Cooley | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| William Nylander | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Jack McBain | 1 | - | 1 | |
| Dylan Guenther | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Michael Kesselring | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Fraser Minten | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Mikhail Sergachev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Chris Tanev | - | 1 | 1 | |
| John Tavares | - | 1 | 1 | |
| Simon Benoit | - | - | - | |
| Nick Bjugstad | - | - | - | |
| Michael Carcone | - | - | - | |
| Ian Cole | - | - | - | |
| Lawson Crouse | - | - | - | |
| Connor Dewar | - | - | - | |
| Oliver Ekman-Larsson | - | - | - | |
| Barrett Hayton | - | - | - | |
| Pontus Holmberg | - | - | - | |
| Clayton Keller | - | - | - | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 21 | 17 | 4 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 20 | 13 | 3 | 4 | 30 | |
Devils | 23 | 14 | 7 | 2 | 30 | |
Hurricanes | 20 | 14 | 5 | 1 | 29 | |
Golden Knights | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Maple Leafs | 21 | 13 | 6 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 20 | 13 | 6 | 1 | 27 | |
Flames | 21 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 27 | |
Stars | 19 | 13 | 6 | - | 26 | |
Rangers | 19 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||