Recent Ilya Sorokin news shouldn’t be overly concerning for NY Islanders fans

By now, if you follow the NY Islanders closely, you’ll know that franchise goaltender Ilya Sorokin had back surgery over the offseason. Sorokin is coming off of a bad year that saw him finish the season with a 3.01 GAA and a 0.908 save percentage with two shutouts, dropping him from second to eighth in finishing for the Vezina Trophy. 

Sorokin saw ice time in just one playoff game, and his numbers weren’t good, so that, combined with his recent back surgery, is a cause for concern, right? Last season, we saw something similar occur with Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning, who had back surgery last year, missed some time, and never seemed to catch on until later in the season. 

With that recent history lesson in mind, it might be normal for fans to be concerned, but in this case, they shouldn’t be. For one, Sorokin may have just had an off-year in 2023-24, and it’s premature to judge him coming into the season based on that bad outing. For another, it doesn’t seem like this recent surgery will have too much of an impact on Sorokin overall. 

Ilya Sorokin should be fine with the NY Islanders despite recent surgery

This isn’t to say there won’t be rust or a rough patch in play, but right now, it doesn’t look like this recent surgery will affect Ilya Sorokin heading into the 2024-25 season. That said, Isles fans shouldn’t be overly concerned with this one and look forward to their team being a serious playoff contender in 2024-25. 

Even if Sorokin were to struggle early or experience a setback and miss time, the Isles still have Semyon Varlamov, who, through 28 games last season, ended the year with a 2.60 GAA, a 0.918 save percentage, and three shutouts. Varlamov will be entering his age-36 season, but there shouldn’t be a drop-off in his play, even if he saw more time in the net earlier in the year. 

While the Ilya Sorokin situation may have been alarming to some fans, it doesn’t look like this will linger in the same way it did regarding players like Andrei Vasilevskiy last season, barring a sudden setback. Optimism should be in the air for the Isles and their magnificent fanbase, and everyone should be looking forward to another exciting season on Long Island.