NY Islanders' defenseman Tony DeAngelo takes to social media in support of Ilya Sorokin in Vezina voting

Since making his debut during the 2016-17 season, Tony DeAngelo has had no problems speaking his mind, and that’s exactly what he did after the voting for the Vezina Trophy was announced. 

For the second time in his career, NY Islanders’ netminder Ilya Sorokin finished runner-up as the NHL’s best goaltender, as Andrei Vasilevskiy captured the award for the second time.

DeAngelo, who spent the last two seasons playing in front of Sorokin, took to X in defense of his netminder.

The General Managers voted on the Vezina Trophy; however, it’s not made public who each executive voted for. 

Vasilevskiy finished with a league-high 39 wins, fourth in SV% at .912, and second in GAA at 2.31. Sorokin, in the same three categories, had 29 wins (10th), .906 SV% (17th), and a 2.68 GAA (18th).

While Sorokin trails significantly regarding the traditional stats, his analytics were off the chart. Facing the most high-danger shots against in the league (505), Sorokin also had the top SV% against high-danger shots at .869 according to Natural Stats Trick. Also, depending on the source, Sorokin was either first or second in the league in goals saved above expected.

What was likely the dagger in Sorokin’s Vezina quest was the fact that the Islanders missed the playoffs. Falling down the stretch and having a miserable end to the regular season, the fact that the Islanders didn’t participate in the postseason gave the voters reason to vote Vasilevskiy as the winner. 

DeAngelo is set to hit free agency on July 1, leaving Mathieu Darche to make an important decision regarding whether or not he’ll bring back one of the Islanders’ top defensemen this past season.

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