The New York Islanders, man, they just couldn’t seal the deal in 2025-26, totally missing the playoffs. But here’s the thing: if they’d even been close, you can bet your bottom dollar it would’ve been because of goaltender Ilya Sorokin. This dude was on fire for a huge chunk of the season, dragging a seriously flawed team into a playoff position for months. We’re talking a Vezina-contending rebound year, with Calder winner Matthew Schaefer chipping in some massive assists, no doubt. Sorokin was putting on a show, looking like his old self at age 30.
The Rollercoaster Season Nobody Expected
For a good long while, it felt like Sorokin was going to single-handedly carry them to the postseason. He racked up a career-high-tying, league-leading seven shutouts last season, which is just insane when you think about it. Seven! That’s clutch, that’s game-changing stuff. He was absolutely putting on a clinic, making incredible saves night after night. But then, as the season wore on, things took a brutal turn. His play, by his own admission and everyone who watched, just tapered off down the stretch. The Isles completely fell out of contention, and it felt like a punch to the gut for anyone who believed.
You can point fingers anywhere you want: maybe the schedule was too brutal, maybe Sorokin just ran out of gas, or maybe backup David Rittich, who’s now off to New Jersey, also started tailing off. Whatever the reason, it’s a pattern with Sorokin: incredible shutout numbers, but he’s usually limited to around 55-60 games. This rebound year, which was so promising, was totally undermined by his final quarter. It’s like watching a chef bake a masterpiece and then drop it right before serving. He didn’t hit those crazy statistical peaks from his 2021-23 seasons, where his save percentage was in the .920s and his Goals Saved Above Average was in the 30s, but for most of last season, he was still electric. And honestly, it really helped that Rittich actually put in an unexpectedly good shift as backup for the first half of the season.
Backups And The Burden Ahead
Now Sorokin is 31, and the backup situation? Oof. It’s a real question mark. Rittich is gone, and he’s replaced by Semyon Varlamov, who’s fresh off double knee surgeries, and Vitek Vanecek, who’s rocked five straight seasons of sub-.900 save percentages. Seriously? It’s like the team is actively trying to make Sorokin’s life harder! For any fan, the hope has to be that with the coaching change from Patrick Roy to Peter DeBoer, the Islanders’ overall defense gets a much-needed shot in the arm. If DeBoer can somehow improve the defense, Sorokin might just face a much smaller nightly onslaught of high-danger chances. That would definitely lighten his load, and hopefully, he never has to experience the kind of bus DeBoer supposedly drove over Jake Oettinger.
But here’s the kicker: with pretty much the same roster coming back, it looks like the Islanders are going to need Sorokin to pull off *another* Vezina-caliber season. And not just that, they’ll need an unexpectedly strong, and let’s be real, unlikely, performance from one or both of those backups who have serious health or history issues stacked against them. So, the question is, are you really putting your money on that kind of long shot?
This article was created with AI assistance and published under Seattle On Tap’s editorial standards. See our Editorial Policy.
Originally reported by Lighthouse Hockey.
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