Samsonov Is in San Jose, and Toronto's Goaltending Depth Ends at Bobrovsky

I already wrote the Campbell-Hutchinson piece when those retirements landed in late July. This is the other side of that same coin. Ilya Samsonov, who spent the 2025-26 season in the KHL after leaving Toronto, signed a two-way deal with San Jose on Monday. He's not coming back. That closes the last door on a goaltending group that, a season ago, was being cycled through in desperation as the Leafs allowed 4.7 goals per game over their final ten games.

What Toronto is left with, in terms of established NHL goaltending, is Sergei Bobrovsky — the three-year, $21 million signing from July 1, and the only real answer the organization has put in the net. Campbell retired. Hutchinson retired. Samsonov landed elsewhere. The pipeline, such as it was, has been drained.

Bobrovsky is a two-time Vezina winner with a long track record of carrying a heavy workload, so the investment is defensible. But one goaltender, on a team that finished 32-50 and whose defense was still hemorrhaging chances when the season ended, is a thin margin. If he gets hurt or struggles early, Toronto doesn't have an obvious answer behind him — at least not one that's surfaced publicly as camp opens.

It's worth noting for the record: Samsonov going to San Jose on a two-way deal, and Fraser Minten signing a $50.4 million extension in Boston, are both quiet reminders of how thoroughly last year's roster has scattered. The Leafs are building something different. Whether Bobrovsky is enough of a foundation to build on is the question camp will start to answer.