In a surprising turn of events, the Washington Capitals announced that declined to issue a qualifying offer to restricted free agent netminder Ilya Samsonov. Unless the team and Samsonov can come to a separate agreement before Wednesday at noon, he will hit the open free agency market.
#Caps have extended qualifying offers to forward Damien Riat and defenseman Tobias Geisser. Both players are expected to play in Europe during the 2022-23 season. #Caps elect not to issue a qualifying offer to goaltender Ilya Samsonov.
— CapitalsPR (@CapitalsPR) July 11, 2022
The announcement comes on the heels of the team flipping Vitek Vanecek to New Jersey during the draft for picks, leaving Samsonov as the only goalie under contract with the club.