Islanders’ Ilya Sorokin Is An All-Star – But Will He Win the Vezina Trophy?

There’s no question that Ilya Sorokin has himself as one of the best netminders in the league – but the question is will he have enough in the tank to win the Vezina trophy this year?

The Russian goaltender will be making his first all-star appearance of his career this weekend in his three-season NHL career with the New York Islanders.

For 2022-2023, Sorkokin has posted a .923 save percentage with a 2.38 goals-against average thus far.

When compared with the rest of the league, Sorokin is in a three-way second-place tie with Connor Hellebuyck and Jake Oettinger as far as save percentage goes.

While it’s certainly possible that Sorokin is able to outperform those two for the rest of the season – there’s just one bigger problem.

And that’s how sensational Boston Bruins‘ goaltender Linus Ullmark has been this year.

He has posted a .937 SV%, which is significantly higher than the other three that sit behind him.

So Sorokin will likely need Ullmark to come back to planet earth a little bit to have a shot.

In 41 games with the Bruins last year, Ullmark posted a .917 SV%.

Throughout his career, Ullmark has bounced around the AHL and NHL, playing mostly fringe starter role in the NHL.

But his performance this year gives the Bruins no choice but to stick with him between the pipes.

Ullmark has played 33 games this year, which is just five less than Sorokin’s count so we’ll have to see if his SV% goes down the more he plays.

Sorokin, on the other hand, was one of the most highly regarded NHL-owned goalie prospects due to his stand-out at what’s regarded as the second-best league in the world, the KHL.

In three seasons with HC CSKA Moscow his save percentage was greater than .930 when he played at least 25 games with the team.

One day he will likely win the Vezina, which is awarded to the NHL’s best goalie of the season – but this year might be a tough task given how well another has played this year.