Canadiens reportedly showing interest in Capitals goaltender Ilya Samsonov

During tonight's broadcast of the Habs and Blues game on RDS, it was mentioned that the Montreal Canadiens have inquired with the Washington Capitals regarding the availability of goaltender Ilya Samsonov.

According to J-F Chaumont of le Journal de Montréal, the Washington Capitals had two scouts at Thursday night's game between the Canadiens and Blues.

With Montreal's big trade chip Ben Chiarot out of the line-up and on IR with a lower-body injury, it's possible that those scouts were keeping an eye on Artturi Lehkonen, Brett Kulak and/or Chris Wideman.

Washington has been looking to upgrade their goaltending in recent weeks and have expressed interest about possibly bringing in Marc-Andre Fleury. But Fleury is hesitant to waive his modified no-trade clause to join the Capitals because of his time spent with the Pittsburgh Penguins and how much of a rival they are to the Pens.

Personally, I wonder if the Capitals would be interested in Jake Allen, who's currently injured, but expected to be back at some point in mid-to-late March. Allen's veteran presence behind Vitek Vanecek could be intriguing to the Capitals, but they're keeping their options open.

Samsonov is currently in his third season with the Capitals since coming over from the KHL. In 29 games this season, the Magnitogorsk native has a record of 16-7-3 with a 2.84 goals against average, a .906 save percentage and three shutouts. He's set to become a restricted free agent at season's end.

The National Hockey League's trade deadline is nearly thirty days away and trade talks are expected to heat up over coming days and weeks. Montreal will be a team to keep an eye on with a number of players available including Ben Chiarot, Artturi Lehkonen, Jeff Petry, Chris Wideman and Brett Kulak among others.

Source: Russian Machine Never Breaks

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