Good Morning, Islanders Country.
I was hard on Ilya Sorokin last season and wasn’t the only one. As the team failed to meet expectations, it was easy to point to Sorokin’s inability to replicate his sensational 2022-23 season as one of the main reasons.
He was the biggest cause of their struggles (not by a longshot), but after being nearly superhuman the previous season, Sorokin was simply better than average, and the Islanders, as constructed, needed him to be better than that.
Maybe that was unfair, but more of the same was expected after signing an eight-year extension. That’s how it works. Instead, he had his worst professional season, culminating in being replaced as the team’s No. 1 down the stretch of the season and being pulled early in his only postseason game.
Expectations have been tempered because of how last season ended and the back surgery we learned of later—perhaps for the better. Sorokin spent the off-season getting physically healthy but also focusing on the little details that make a big impact for a goaltender. Even at his level, bad habits can form, and reinforcement is needed. He worked on his positioning and rebound control, two things that plagued him that no number of acrobatic saves could overcome.
