After not being QO’d by the Capitals and signing with the Maple Leafs on a one-year, prove-yourself-type deal ahead of the 2022-23 season, Ilya Samsonov is coming off a career-year and was one of the reasons why Toronto snapped their lengthy 18-year drought of not making it past the first round of the playoffs.

However, since he signed a one-year deal and given his age, he was an RFA after the season and despite not agreeing to terms on a contract extension, the two sides went to arbitration and Samsonov was ultimately handed a one-year contract for the 2023-24 season.

That now brings us to the NHL season which is just around the corner.

Although Ilya Samsonov had a career year posting a record of 27-10-5 with four shutouts to go along with a .919 SV% and a 2.33 GAA, which ranked him inside the top 10 for both categories, the oddsmakers aren’t that very high on him to potentially win the 2024 Vezina Trophy.

Our friends over at Betano currently have him at the fifth-longest odds to win the trophy at +7400 which ties him with fellow netminders Jordan Binnginton, Ville Husso, Logan Thompson, Tristan Jarry and Adin Hill, and only ahead of guys like Stuart Skinner, Joseph Woll, Antti Raanta, Jack Campbell, Mads Sogaard, Matt Murray, Marc-Andre Fleury and Petr Mrazek.

Whether his odds are great or not to win the 2024 Vezina Trophy, if Ilya Samosnov can give the Toronto Maple Leafs a similar season to the one from 2022-23 or at least a version close to it, that is more than okay with this fan base. Because we all know they’d rather take the deep playoff run over the individual awards, although seeing players from your favourite teams with individual awards is always nice too.