Sorokin Named Finalist for Vezina Trophy

The National Hockey League announced today that New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin is a finalist for the 2023 Vezina Trophy, given annually to the National Hockey League's best goaltender. The winner is selected by the 32 NHL General Managers and will be announced at the 2023 NHL Awards in Nashville, TN on Monday, June 26 at 8PM.

Sorokin is one of three finalists for the award, alongside Linus Ullmark of the Boston Bruins and Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets.

This season, Sorokin set career-highs in wins (31) and starts (60), as he posted a 31-22-7 record in his third campaign with the Islanders. The 27-year-old's 31 wins were the most by an Islander netminder since the 2014-15 season (Jaroslav Halak, 38). His .924 save percentage was third amongst NHL netminders with at least 25 starts, and his 2.34 goals against average was sixth.

READ: SOROKIN'S STANDOUT SEASON

A native of Mezhdurechensk, RUS, Sorokin led the NHL with six shutouts in the 2022-23 campaign. He turned aside a career-high 49 shots on November 23, the most by any goaltender in a shutout performance this season. Sorokin also represented the Islanders at the 2023 NHL All-Star Game in Sunrise, FL.

This is the first Vezina Trophy nomination for Sorokin and the fifth time in franchise history that an Islanders goaltender has been a Vezina finalist, joining Billy Smith (1982), Roland Melanson (1983), Kelly Hrudey (1988) and Robin Lehner (2019). Smith is the only Islanders goaltender to have won the award.

Prior to joining the Islanders, Sorokin spent eight seasons with CSKA Moscow and Metallurg Novokuznetsk of the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL), where he posted a 1.70 GAA and .930 save percentage in 244 regular season starts. Sorokin also won an Olympic Gold Medal with the Olympic Athletes from Russia at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.