Caps suffer big blow between the pipes as Ilya Samsonov will not be going to Toronto

With less than 24 hours left before teams head to their hub cities and enter the bubble, the Washington Capitals have revealed a major blow to the team's roster. The Caps have announced that rookie goaltender Ilya Samsonov sustained an injury prior to the resumption of the 2019-20 NHL season and will not travel to Toronto with his teammates.

Samsonov will remain in Washington to continue undergoing treatment an Washington expects him to be healthy for 2020-21 season. As per the NHL's new rules, there is no word on what the injury might be. The Caps had a great one-two punch in goal with both Samsonov and veteran Braden Holtby sharing duties all season long. While head coach Todd Reirden and stated weeks ago that the starting job at the beginning of the 24-team Return to Play format would be Holtby's to lose, Samsonov would certainly have made an excellent option to take over if Holtby became injured or didn't play well.

With Samsonov out, the backup duties for the Caps will likely fall to Pheonix Copley or Vitek Vanecek for the post season, although the team has not made an official announcement.

With Holtby in the final year of a five-year contract paying him $6.1 million per season, it's doubful he'll be back with Washington in 2020-21 due to cap constraints. Samsonov put up a better save percentage and goals against average (.913, 2.55) than Holtby (.897, 3.11) this season, although it should be noted that he started in 22 fewer games. With Holtby likely not returning next season, Samsonov is clearly being groomed to become the team's number one netminder.

The Capitals will not be taking part in the play-ins which start August 1st, instead playing round robin games against other top teams in the Eastern Conference for seeding.

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