Sorokin's Standout Season gets Vezina Consideration

Ilya Sorokin sports a loaded resume for the Vezina Trophy: a league-leading six shutouts, an impressive .924 save percentage and solid 2.34 goals against average, so it's no surprise the 27-year-old was named a finalist on Thursday night.

"Sorokin is a world-class, all-star goalie," Scott Mayfield said. "He should be right up there in all the MVP talks, how important he is to our team and what he's been able to do. Just a special player."

Sorokin is just the fifth Islanders goalie to be a finalist as the NHL's top goalie and is looking to be the first Islander since Billy Smith (1982) to win the award.

"He definitely deserves it," Sorokin's goalie partner, Semyon Varlamov, said. "In my mind, [Sorokin] deserves to win the Vezina this year, he played outstanding."

Sorokin's third NHL season was a special one. He was selected for his first career All-Star weekend, led the league in shutouts, and became just the fifth goalie in team history to win over 30 games in a season.

In his third season with the Islanders, Sorokin carried a heavy workload playing a career-high 62 games in the 2022-23 regular season, including 17 starts in the last 19 contests of the season where every point proved crucial to reach playoff berth. The Russian netminder tacked on more playoff experience in the postseason, starting between the pipes in all six games against the Carolina Hurricanes.

Sorokin posted a record of 31-22-7 in the regular season as one of seven netminders in the NHL with 60 or more starts.

"It was good experience," Sorokin said. "I never thought I'd play 60 games in the regular season. It's not easy, but I felt okay. It's a normal situation for this league."

Sorokin's consistency was on display all season long. He finished the regular season with a .924 SV%, good for third among goaltenders with at least 25 games played, while his 2.34 GAA ranked sixth among goaltenders with the same criteria.

Sorokin also registered seven games with 40 or more saves, including a career-high 49 saves on Nov. 23. While his stats are undoubtably impressive on paper, they don't do him justice to the timing and types of saves he was able to pull off in key moments. The Russian netminder had quite a few highlight-reel saves, including paddle saves and dominant moves.

Despite his success and league recognition, Sorokin stayed humble, crediting the team in front of him for his own success and ability to stand out as a potential Vezina candidate.

"I never think about the NHL awards," Sorokin said. "Nothing if you don't have the team playing the part. It's not my result it's the team's result."

His teammates recognize his humble habits and redirect the credit to Sorokin's exceptional skillset.

"He doesn't like [to] talk about it," Alexander Romanov said of Sorokin's Vezina considerations. "He definitely can be a finalist for the Vezina Trophy. He deserves it."

Though appreciated and respected by all his teammates, Sorokin shares a special bond with his fellow Russians.

"He's my good friend, I've known him for a long time," Varlamov said. "It's always nice to talk Russian in the locker room, especially with him. We've had some fun over the last couple of years playing together."

"He's a great guy, also a great goalie," Romanov said. "And he's one of my best friends."

Sorokin's impact has been echoed by his teammates all season long, credited with keeping his team in the game in low-scoring contests and coming up with key saves in critical moments.

"He's special, he really is," Mathew Barzal said after the Islanders Game 5 win in Carolina. "He's been our backbone all year. You look at the most important players in the league to their own teams, he's in the top five guys in the league. We wouldn't be here if he wasn't playing the way he has been."

Regardless of whether Sorokin wins the Vezina Trophy, when it's handed out at the NHL Awards on June 26 in Nashville, there is no question of how deserving of league-wide recognition he is for a dominant season and an outstanding effort for his team.

"His play speaks for itself," Mayfield said. "We love him in there it's great. Don't know if anyone could ever say a bad word about Sorokin, he's pretty much perfect. In terms of most valuable players to their team, he's right up there in the conversation with anyone."