Russian goalie for the NHL club “Toronto” Ilia Samsonov spoke about the progress of contract negotiations with the club.
During the offseason, the goaltender was awarded a one-year contract with the Maple Leafs for $3.55 million following arbitration hearings. Samsonov went to arbitration because he did not agree with the salary offered by the club. According to media reports, he wanted to receive $4.9 million, and the club was ready to pay him 2.4 million.
— I have a theory that to play your best hockey, you have to be on the edge. Otherwise, you relax and the problems begin. Is there any truth in this?
“That may seem true, but when they spoke to Toronto, they saw me as a competitor to Matt Murray. And now I’m fighting Joseph Wall. There is always competition in the NHL. If you are relaxed, it means you are a fool. You can’t relax in this league. There are only 64 goalies in the entire NHL. We have to keep the level. I don’t want to connect these situations. But everyone has setbacks, even Messi and Ronaldo. I’m not comparing us, I’m just saying that something may not work for everyone.
— Could the arbitration situation have had an impact?
– I don’t know. I still don’t know how this happened. I was ready to sign a two or three year contract. The club would have signed as many as they wanted.
– Why didn’t it work?
– In fact, no one proposed anything. They certainly haven’t offered it in over a year. But in general, money is not the main thing. What can we complain about? The NHL pays a lot of money, I live very well, I have everything. My life will not change whether I earn one million, two million or eight. You just have to work, the rest will follow,” Samsonov told Sport24.
This season, the 26-year-old Russian has played nine matches, on average he has reflected 87.8% of shots.
Sport24
Source : MatchTV
I’m Emma Smith, a dedicated journalist and avid storyteller. I have been writing for news websites for the past 5 years, reporting on hockey news and delivering in-depth analysis of the sport. In my current role as Author at Athletistic, I write about hockey events from around the world to keep followers up-to-date with what’s happening in the sport.
