Islanders' 2026 Playoff Chances Rest On Ilya Sorokin's Shoulders

Yahoo

6 days ago

If the New York Islanders are going to qualify for the 2026 Stanley Cup Playoffs, starting netminder Ilya Sorokin is going to have to lead the way.
He's arguably the club's only superstar, and after back-to-back subpar statistical seasons — he posted a 3.01 GAA and a .908 SV% in 2023-24, followed by a 2.71 GAA with a .907 SV% in 2024-25 — the Islanders need him to be ready when the puck drops on Oct. 9 against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Steel City.
When the 2024-25 season began, Sorokin wasn't game-ready as he was still working his way back from offseason back surgery. Head coach Patrick Roy, fortunately, had the stable Semyon Varlamov to turn to for the start of the season.
Now, a year later, Sorokin is putting in the work to be ready, while Varlamov is working his way back from lower-body surgery after his season came to an end in late November.
Islanders Ilya Sorokin's Summer Training Tape A year ago,
New York Islanders netminder Ilya Sorokin was rehabbing after undergoing offseason back surgery.
The goal for the Islanders is not to play Sorokin into the ground, as it's clear that he isn't an Andrei Vasilevskiy type, someone who can play 60-plus games at an elite level.
That's not a knock on Sorokin, who is still among the elite netminders in the game when he's on his game. Very few goaltenders are capable of doing what Vasilevskiy can do, and it does help that he's on a team with tremendous talent, even if that talent has changed throughout the course of his 11-year career.
Sorokin is a fascinating topic among the Islanders fan base, with one side focusing solely on the stat line and the other just watching.
While the stat line, as mentioned, was not pretty in 2024-25, looking at the game situation matters.
Out of 29 goalies at 5-on-5 who played 2,000-plus minutes, Sorokin ranked 11th with a .919 SV% and 12th with a 2.21 GAA. He ranked seventh in high-danger SV% with a .839 SV%.
Those aren't amazing numbers but much better than his overall stat line, eh?
However, Sorokin's downfall came on the penalty kill, where the Islanders were second-to-last with a 72.2 PK percentage.
Of 34 goalies to play in 160-plus minutes on the penalty kill, Sorokin ranked 24th with an .847 SV% and 26th with an 8.65 GAA.
All statistics are courtesy of Natural Statrick.
While the play in front of Sorokin down a man, or two, was subpar, Sorokin wasn't good enough — something he for sure knows.
With Bob Boughner now tasked with managing the penalty kill, the hope is that his system allows for Sorokin to have more success. It truly just comes down to decision-making, as the Islanders often got caught debating what to do, which led to more chaos and easier finishes for the opponent.
Sorokin's job is to stop the shots he can see, but his struggles with screens was his Achilles heel.
For a goaltender, being aggressive on the PK is key to counteracting the screens and in-tight deflections. But, there's a lot of goalies that like to play deeper, to see around the screens -- it's just a style.
It isn't a style that has worked well for Sorokin, that much is true, and one would think goaltender coach Piero Greco has pointed it out.
The good news for Sorokin and the Islandeers is that if they can figure out the PK, they should be in solid shape since they were on the penalty kill only 5:43 minutes per game, which ranked second-best in the NHL.
That's the sad part of the Islanders penalty-kill struggles in 2024-25.
In all situations, Sorokin faced the third-most shots in the NHL in 2024-25 (1,696) and the third-most high-danger shots (444).
The Islanders need to get those numbers down if they want Sorokin fresh, especially until Varlamov is ready to go. Yes, the Islanders brought in David Rittich on a one-year, $1 million deal, but in a season where the Los Angeles Kings were dominant and Darcy Kuemper was a Vezina finalist with a 2.02 GAA and a .921 SV%, Rittich struggled mightily, posting a 2.84 GAA with an .886 SV% in 34 appearances.
It's the Sorokin show until it's not.
Sorokin is two seasons removed from his 2022-23 Vezina finalist season, where he posted a 2.34 GAA with a .924 SV% in 56 games. He's looking to bounce back and lead the way as he ramps up for his sixth NHL season, entering the second season of an eight-year deal worth $8.25 million annually.