Photo: @Capitals

According to the Washington Capitals, goaltender Ilya Samsonov sustained an injury prior to the training camp and will not travel with the team to Toronto for the 2020 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Sunday. He will remain in the Washington area to continue undergoing treatment. The Capitals expect the 23-year-old to be ready for the 2020-21 season, which is reportedly set to begin on December 1.

News: Ilya Samsonov sustained an injury prior to the resumption of the 2019-20 NHL season, per team.

Samsonov will not travel to Toronto and will remain in Washington to continue undergoing treatment. The Caps expect him to be healthy for 20/21 season.

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) July 25, 2020

Samsonov is the only player on the team that had not participated in training camp.

Samaonov’s only sighting since returning from Russia was in a tik tok video with fellow Russian Capitals posted on July 12.

Pre-training camp Russian shenanigans. 🙂 (@nastyashubskya) #ALLCAPS #Capitals pic.twitter.com/egcoREbCnw

— NoVa Caps (@NoVa_Caps) July 13, 2020

After a 15-2-1 start to his NHL career where he posted a .927 save percentage and a 2.06 goals-against average, the 22-year-old is 1-4-1 with an .873 save percentage and a 4.11 goals-against average since the All-Star break. He started only three of the Capitals’ final 13 games before the pause after getting pulled for the first time in his career in the team’s 5-3 loss to the New York Islanders on February 11 when he allowed five goals on 20 shots. He finished the season with a 16-6-2 record, a .913 save percentage, and a 2.55 goals-against average.

Reirden said he can not share anything more than Samsonov suffered an injury, no comment on severity or nature of the injury. Reiterates it is not coronavirus related.

— Samantha Pell (@SamanthaJPell) July 25, 2020

Samsonov is expected to be the Capitals’ starting goalie next season as starter Braden Holtby can become an unrestricted free agent after the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

The Capitals can bring an unlimited number of goalies to Toronto. Holtby, Vitek Vanecek, and Pheonix Copley are the current goalies on the training camp roster.

The team opens their round-robin tournament on Monday, August 3 vs. the Tampa Bay Lightning (4 PM ET, NBCSN nationally, NBC Sports Washington locally) and will face the Carolina Hurricanes in an exhibition game on Wednesday (4 PM ET, NBCSN nationally, NBC Sports Washington locally). Both games will be played at Scotiabank Arena.

Head coach Todd Reirden told the media in June that Holtby was “the guy” in net for the Capitals.

By Harrison