Eyes On Isles
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New York Islanders Ilya Sorokin Still Top Quality

By Michel Anderson

Jun 26, 2015; Sunrise, FL, USA; Anthony Beauvillier shakes hands with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman after being selected as the number twenty-eight overall pick to the New York Islanders in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft at BB&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 26, 2015; Sunrise, FL, USA; Anthony Beauvillier shakes hands with NHL commissioner Gary Bettman after being selected as the number twenty-eight overall pick to the New York Islanders in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft at BB&T Center. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /
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The present looks bleak for the New York Islanders, at least for the moment. But the future between the pipes. Oh man, the future looks great.

The New York Islanders are 5-7-2 in the opening 14 games this season. That’s a pace of 70 points by season’s end. No way good enough for the post-season. Which, let’s face it, is the goal here.

The Islanders aren’t some team swimming in money where missing out on playoff hockey is somehow sustainable over the long run. Not to mention what regressing will do to the Islanders fan’s psyche.

We aren’t ready or willing to go through another rebuild or even an “on-the-fly-re-tool”. Success, or at the very least, progress, is the reality we should all be living in. Not this, below .500 bumbling mess that’s going on right now.

The season isn’t over, but let’s focus on the future. I don’t want to bury the hatchet on this season yet, but it’s taking it’s toll on me.

Imagine If You Will

How about that Ilya Sorokin kid eh? That goalie the New York Islanders drafted in the third round of the 2014 NHL Draft. That 21-year-old who was named goalie of the year in the KHL with a 1.06 GAA and .953 SV%. Yeah, that kid.

Last year was fantastic for him, success, awards, attention. It must have been fantastic for him.

This year isn’t any different for the Russian goalie. In 20 games this season, Sorokin has a 1.27 GAA and a .941 SV%

And he’s one of us. Well sorta. The Islanders have his NHL rights at the moment.

Being under contract with his current KHL CSKA Moscow, Sorokin isn’t going to be wearing the Isles colors for a bit. At least until 2018 when said contract is over.

But let’s just dive into a hypothetical.

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Imagine if you will, it’s the summer of 2018. The 2017-18 NHL season just came to an end and a team not named the New York Islanders won the cup. Ilya Sorokin decides he won’t resign with CSKA and instead comes to the NHL after four consecutive seasons with a GAA under 2.00 and a SV% above .935%.

The Isles continue to hold his right and manage to get him signed up. Now add him to the likes of Beauvillier, Barzal, Ho-Sang, Dal Colle, Pulock, and Pelech. Not to mention a 28-year-old John Tavares who’ll just be starting his new super lucrative eight-year deal.

Next: Isles Renew Their Great Rivalry Math

Those are going to be the days. Garth Snow and Jack Capuano will probably have moved on by then. And balance will return to Brooklyn. Fell better? Oh, yeah, even in this crazy hypothetical situation the Isles are still playing in Brooklyn. Rome wasn’t built in a day.

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