GM Brad Treliving discussed the decision to waive Ilya Samsonov, the plan to rebuild him, the call-up of Dennis Hildeby, and the team’s play entering 2024.
Statement on the waiving of Ilya Samsonov
Treliving: We know that Ilya has gone through a difficult time. When you go through this, you kind of look at a couple of options, right? You either keep doing what you are doing — which is an option — and try to work through it, or you do something different.
We looked at it, and I felt strongly that we had to do something different to help Ilya. In order to execute this and create the roster spot, we needed to put him on waivers. We are going to take this week to try to use it as a reset.
Ilya has been assigned to the Marlies. He is not practicing at this stage and is not planning to play with the Marlies at this stage, but we are using this week to get him some one-on-one time. He will be working with Hannu Toivonen back in Toronto, our development team, and our performance team off the ice. Really, it is a physical and mental reset where he can get away from preparing for the next game, all the pressures that come with it, and just focus on…
To me, a lot of what we are seeing here is that the mental drives the bus a little bit. It is hard to correct the physical and technical side when a lot is going on with him.
We are going to let the air out of the balloon a little bit, give him a bunch of support, let him reset, and let him use this week as that reset. We know there is a good goalie there. He has shown that in the past.
You have to find a way to do something different and help him. That is sort of what the week is about.
When he doesn’t show up at Marlies practice, we are trying to use all resources we can to get him back to where we know he is capable of getting back to.
Q&A: On Samsonov, Hildeby, and the team’s play entering 2024
When you call it a week for Samsonov’s reset, is it a hard deadline or is it something you will reassess after a few days?
Treliving: The week is really because we are gone (on the road). We will monitor it daily and see where he is at, but this isn’t something where you are saying, “Okay, we will scramble together on Wednesday and see how it’s going today.”
This allows him to breathe a little bit for the week, get him out of the environment he was in where sometimes you are just going around on the Ferris wheel, and just let him refocus and reset. When we get back, we will see where he is at.
What was the conversation like with Samsonov when you broke the news about the waiver decision?
Treliving: There is a little bit of a shock, right? They are professionals and all of the rest of it, but they are humans. No one wants to succeed more than the player. They want to have success. It is what they do.
There is a little bit of shock when you walk him through it, but he really understood. A couple of days ago, we had a talk to go through what the plan is. It is a plan to help him. This isn’t punishment. We need him to get back to where he is capable of getting back to. He wants to get there.
If you knew exactly all the ways to fix things, you would do it, right? We just feel this is a plan that is different than what we were doing and we think it can benefit him.
Do you anticipate him playing games with the Marlies at some point?
Treliving: We will see. Basically, we want to take the next week and say, “Let’s step back, get him the physical work he needs, the technical work he needs, work with him off the ice, try to get his mind to settle, step away from it, and attack it from a three-headed [approach].”
How difficult was it to decide to bring Dennis Hildeby up to the NHL considering you don’t want to necessarily rush his development?
Treliving: Number one, you have to look at what is best for Ilya. If you go down that path, you also need a goaltender here.
This isn’t something where we are scared to push Dennis into anything. When you step back and look at it, Dennis had a terrific start to the year, but when you really look at the body of work, this is his first year in North America. Really, in Dennis’ case, he hasn’t played a super high level of hockey [in Europe] for an extended period of time, so I feel strongly that the best place for Dennis is where he was at, but he has also shown that he has had a really good start there.
Circumstances dictated that we want to do this with Ilya. The second part is that Dennis has played well. It allows us to see him with NHL shooters. You have a back-to-back, so it opens up potential options there. That will be up to Sheldon and the coaching staff as to how they manage that.
It allows us to see it, but we also want to be careful with how we manage Dennis as well.
Are the days of the six-foot-or-under goalie over?
Treliving: I know we all draft these… Well, you see Hildeby walk through the door. They’re big guys.
I had a goaltender coming up in Calgary, Dustin Wolf, who is a shorter guy and a terrific guy. I think he has been the goalie of the year in the American league. Talent is still paramount.
But the position has gotten a lot bigger. It’s harder for (smaller) goaltenders, but you see Saros in the league.
It is a hard one. I still think there is room for the talented, smaller goaltender, but with the way the game is played and the amount of traffic around the net, the bigger guys give you more room. They fill more net.
The majority of guys are going to be big guys, but I still think you will see smaller goaltenders if they have that ability.
Do you feel you need to look outside the organization for goalie help?
Treliving: We always look at everything, right? This has created a situation where we think we have a good goalie. [Samsonov] has shown he has been a good goalie. How do we help him get back to that form? In the meantime, the manager always has to do his job of continuing to look at ways to improve the team.
Having said that, I checked outside. The goaltender tree was empty. I couldn’t pick one off there today. We will see. With a little more sun, maybe they will grow a few more.
We know we have guys who have shown themselves to be good goaltenders in this league. We are working with Ilya to get back to that form. Joe (Woll) has had a great start to the season. We are working with him to get him healthy. Martin has had a good career.
Our depth is being tested at that position. We are going to work and try to make the guys we have as good as we can be. We always look to see if there are areas that can help us on the outside.
How is Matt Murray doing in his recovery since his procedure?
Treliving: He is doing well. It is a significant rehab, but there have been no setbacks.
He has attacked it full steam. He is up to the stage now where — maybe I shouldn’t say this because I may be wrong — he has not “goaltender skated” but has done a public skate where he throws the sweatsuit on and kind of wanders around on the ice a little bit. That is good progression.
He has a ways to go, but everything has been really, really positive in terms of no setbacks. He has been on track and things are going well.
Is there any chance he could be an option toward the end of the regular season?
Treliving: We just want to be careful. There is no pressure to get him going. We just want to make sure he goes about it (properly). When he is ready, he is ready. That is off on the horizon.
Is Joe Woll returning before the All-Star break possible?
Treliving: I don’t know. We may have a better time frame once we get back (from California), but we will see.
What is your overall assessment of the team as we inch closer to the halfway mark and enter 2024?
Treliving: It is funny. If you look back at the beginning of the year, we were getting some points we weren’t earning. We were just getting some points. You take the points when you can get them. At the end of the day, it is all about results in this business.
I have liked our last two games. We will use the Carolina game. I think we gave up six chances at five-on-five. That is winning hockey. That is going to give you a better chance to have success long term. We didn’t get points out of the game and lost the special-teams game.
If you look at what we have given up going back to the Columbus and Carolina games, it is a better recipe for success. We have a lot of talent and a lot of skill. We know that. It is the ability to check. When we do that on a real consistent basis from the top down in our lineup… We are going to score enough, but we have to check.
When you look throughout the league, look at the team we are playing [LA Kings]. It is a great team. They pride themselves on checking first.
It is a big [key] to our success. It is a long way of saying that we have to continue with that mindset. The results will follow.
