The biggest news surrounding the New York Islanders in recent weeks has involved Ilya Sorokin. There were questions about whether he was entering training camp injured or limited by an injury. Then the Islanders confirmed he had back surgery in the offseason and has been recovering since.
The immediate reactions, at least from the fanbase, are speculative. How many games will Sorokin miss to start the season and how long will it take to recover from surgery? The subsequent question is a retroactive one: How long has Sorokin been injured and playing with an issue that required surgery?
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These questions ignore the big picture with the Islanders’ starting goaltender and their unit as a whole. The surgery is a reminder for the Islanders and their coaching staff that they must pay close attention to a position that will make or break their 2024-25 season. In 2022-23, goaltending was the Islanders’ strength, and last season, it nearly left them out of the playoffs. By all means, it’s the X-Factor this season.
Sorokin Will Return To Form
The offseason surgery explains why Sorokin struggled down the stretch last season. An injured back can make a goaltender who relies on quick movement and flexibility rather than size look hapless in the net. He did, and it’s why the Islanders had to turn to Semyon Varlamov in the final regular season games to secure a spot in the playoffs.
There’s no telling when the injury occurred and if there was a game in which Sorokin started to feel its impact. However, there’s a noticeable drop off in his final 10 starts where the injury or the workload from the season started to take its toll. In those games, he had a .903 save percentage (SV%) and a 3.00 goals-against average (GAA), forcing the Islanders to bench him. It didn’t help that his one playoff appearance was also a disaster as he allowed three goals on only 14 shots and failed to finish the Game 3 loss against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Sorokin will head into the new season looking more like the elite goaltender the team saw in his first three seasons in the NHL and not the one everyone saw last season. When he was playing at 80 or even 70 percent, as he was at the end…
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