Athletistic / Hockey. There is less than a month left until the start of the new NHL season. Almost all Russian hockey players have already traveled to North America to prepare for the start of the campaign. Usually, during this period, extremely pleasant news about Russian stars comes from NHL clubs: photos from their training sessions are often published, our guys take part in all kinds of advertising campaigns or charity events. However, in 2024, bad news appeared about our compatriot.

Last weekend, respected NHL insider Elliott Friedman said that New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin was currently “dealing with some sort of issue.” Yes, that’s exactly the vague wording Friedman broke down with, without providing any further information.

— Now, I sometimes ask myself a question that is obviously difficult to talk about in the off-season. We will see later, but it seems to me that Ilya Sorokin is currently struggling with some kind of problem. The Islanders are a very secretive organization and their general manager, Lou Lamoriello, is obviously a very private person. But I have already heard that Sorokin is having trouble solving something. I do not know how serious it is or not, and the hockey player’s agent does not say anything out of respect for Lamoriello. Later, I myself sent a request to the Islanders, but they did not tell me anything.Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast.

If you try to guess what Friedman’s words are connected with, you can conclude that Ilya Sorokin’s problem can be associated with completely different difficulties: a possible injury and some addictions come to mind (after the problems of Evgeny Kuznetsov and Valery Nichushkin, this certainly cannot be ruled out), but perhaps it is about the Russian’s psychological problems.

Sorokin has not been added to the injured list, but it is possible that he is suffering from an injury that he had to deal with both last season and this offseason. However, there is no information on this. Therefore, different theories are starting to multiply.

Photo source: NHL

The 2023/2024 season turned out to be the worst of Sorokin’s North American career. If at the end of the 2022/2023 campaign, Ilya was one of three nominees for the Vezina (an award given to the best goalie in the NHL based on the results of the regular season), then he finished last season as the second goalie of the Islanders.

For Sorokin, a lot has changed with the arrival of Patrick Roy as the Islanders’ head coach. Initially, many expected that the arrival of the legendary Canadian goaltender would have an ideal impact on the development of the Russian’s career, but so far, everything has turned out to be a nightmare for Sorokin. He not only had the least impressive season in the NHL, but also lost the competition for a spot in the Islanders’ starting lineup to his compatriot Semyon Varlamov.

Before working with Rua, Ilya Sorokin was the busiest goalie in the entire NHL. During Lane Lambert’s tenure as the Islanders’ coach, the Russian averaged more shots per game than any other goalie in the entire league. From October 2023 to January 2024, Sorokin had to stop at least 40 (!) shots eight times. But after Rua’s arrival, Ilya’s shooting load gradually decreased. As a result, in the second half of the season, the Islanders allowed their opponents to shoot more than 40 times in Sorokin’s direction only four times.

It would seem that this should benefit Sorokin, but in the end, the changes in the team’s style of play did not help the Russian goalkeeper much. During the entire regular season, Ilya played 56 matches, won 25 times (only two clean sheets), reflected 90.9% of shots and with a reliability coefficient of 3.01. Previously, Sorokin had never fallen below 91.8% of shots stopped, a safety factor of 2.40 and six shutouts.

It got to the point that Semyon Varlamov took over as the Islanders’ number one in the playoffs. The Islanders lost in the first round of the Stanley Cup (to the Carolina Hurricanes with a score of 1-4 in the series), and Ilya was allowed to play only one playoff game: he missed three goals after 14 shots and again gave up to Varlamov in the 28th minute. Sorokin did not appear on the ice again in the playoffs.

Moreover, the question is that Patrick Roy cannot be accused of any bias towards Sorokin. It is worth noting that the Canadian trusts Ilya, but the Russian simply does not succeed.

Photo source: New York Islanders HC

A wake-up call for Sorokin could have been the fact that in May the Islanders signed Swedish goaltender Marcus Hogberg. If Ilya fails to overcome his problems (or heal his injury) and the 36-year-old Varlamov fails to convince the coaching staff, then the Scandinavian will have a real chance to shine in the NHL.

Ilya Sorokin always behaves very professionally and creates pleasant emotions: the Russian is courteous with journalists, polite in his relations with fans and professional in his work. If he is currently suffering from an injury, I wish him health and a speedy recovery. In any case, Sorokin needs help. Unfortunately, as the examples of Kuznetsov and Nichushkin have shown, the NHL does not monitor the mental health of its stars as carefully as one would like. It is important for both the Islanders and Russian hockey not to lose one of the brightest and most reliable goalkeepers of the generation.

Nikita Serbakov, Athletistic



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