Mar 28, 2026; Elmont, New York, USA; New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin (30) put on his mask before a game against the Florida Panthers at UBS Arena. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images
Something special is happening on Long Island.
The New York Islanders are in the midst of a furious playoff push as they try to beat out a glut of teams competing for the Wild Card spots in the Eastern Conference. Much of the attention has been on 18-year-old rookie phenom Matthew Schaefer and what he brings to the table, but it’s a different Islander who is arguably even more important to the team’s success and deserves to be recognized for it.
Goalie Ilya Sorokin is putting together an exceptional season and is a frontrunner for the Vezina Trophy, an award he deserves with his outstanding numbers and importance to the Islanders’ success.
Entering Monday night’s action against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the 30-year-old is 28-18-2 this season with a 2.47 goals-against-average and a .914 save percentage. That’s good for third league-wide in save percentage, behind only Scott Wedgewood and Devin Cooley, and eighth-best in goals-against-average.
Sorokin’s advanced stats are even more impressive. He leads the league with 32.5 goals-saved-above expected per hockey analytics site MoneyPuck and has been worth 5.42 wins above replacement, best among goalies and well ahead of the second-place Logan Thompson, who is at 4.86.
While the Islanders have developed a reputation as a boring, defensive team in recent years, that hasn’t been the case this season. The addition of Schaefer, along with other creative forwards, has revitalized the team, and they’ve been playing much more aggressively, at the expense of their defensive structure. The effects of that change have been mitigated by Sorokin, who has covered up plenty of mistakes, making big stop after big stop.
“I don’t even know what more I can say good about him,” forward Bo Horvat said about Sorokin after Thursday night’s win against the Dallas Stars. “He’s a phenomenal player, we’re so lucky to have him, and he was phenomenal again tonight.”
This year at five-on-five, the Islanders rank 29th in expected-goals-against per 60 minutes at 2.92. They’re also 27th in scoring chances allowed per 60 minutes and 31st in high-danger chances allowed per 60 minutes. Despite all of that, they’re allowing just 2.3 goals against per 60 minutes, good for ninth-best in the NHL and largely thanks to Sorokin’s play.
The biggest competition for Sorokin is likely Tampa Bay Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy, who already has one Vezina Trophy on his resume and is also enjoying a stellar season. Vasilevskiy has a better record at 35-12-4, plays for one of the league’s best teams, and also ranks in the top-five for most of the advanced goalie statistics. However, Vasilevskiy benefits from a much stingier defensive environment with the Lightning, who allow just 2.29 expected-goals-against per 60 minutes at five-on-five, sixth-best in the NHL.
Billy Smith, who has his number retired by the franchise, is the only Islanders goalie to ever win the Vezina Trophy, doing so in the 1981-82 season after going 32-9-4 with a 2.97 goals-against-average and a .900% save percentage. That was the first year the trophy was given to the league’s best goalie; before that, it went to the netminder with the lowest goals-against-average.
The Islanders will almost definitely need to make the playoffs for Sorokin to seal the deal with voters. Sergei Bobrovsky, in 2012-13, then with the Columbus Blue Jackets, is the only goalie to win the Vezina Trophy while missing the playoffs since the modern voting standard was adopted in 1981.
A late hot-streak by any of the top goalies over the last few weeks of the regular season could sway voters. However, as it stands right now, there’s no goalie more deserving of the Vezina Trophy than the Islanders’ own Sorokin, who has been exceptional this season and is a large reason the team is still in playoff contention.
For more on Ilya Sorokin and the Islanders, visit AMNY.com