The thing about Ilya Sorokin’s 2023-24 season is that it was almost always impossible for him to achieve the standards he set for himself again.
Sorokin, who posted a .924 save percentage in 62 games and led the Islanders to the playoffs in 2022-23, was more than deserving of winning the Vezina Trophy, where he finished second in voting behind Linus Ullmark. .
It was probably one of the best seasons for a modern goalkeeper.
Evolved Hockey exceeded expectations in goal saves, earning Sorokin 51.36 GSAx. He has the second-highest total among goaltenders in a season since this statistic has existed.
That’s not just more, it’s more than anyone who came after him.
Juuse Saros ranked third in this statistic in the 2022-23 season with a score of 45.49.
Igor Shesterkin’s 2021-22 Vezina Trophy winning campaign ranks ninth with an incomparable 37.18 points.
Yes, it probably won’t happen again.
But even with that warning and pointing out that Sorokin has faced more shots than any goaltender in the league this season, his performance was below expectations.
His .908 save percentage is decent, but not much better.
He still makes the occasional acrobatic save, but he’s stopping more goals. That included Sunday’s 5-2 loss to the Rangers, where Johnny Brodzinski’s tip-in for the lead was deflected off the netminder before the goal.
Islanders coach Patrick Roy said he didn’t mean to throw the netminder under the bus, but “I thought he was good.” “The goal he gave up, I don’t know if he could have done it.” [more], those are all big saves. Sure, it would have been nice to go back to the dressing room after two games, 2-2, but listen, we played against a team that played better than us. ”
Digging deeper into the numbers, we see a notable decline for Sorokin in two areas: medium-danger shots and penalty kills.
According to Natural Stat Trick, his save percentage on high-danger shots has remained relatively stable from .852 to .843 compared to last year, but his save percentage on medium-danger shots has increased from .922 to .870. I am.
Meanwhile, on the penalty kill, his save percentage dropped from .869 last season to .822 this season, according to Natural Stat Trick.
It’s worth saying that his play in front of him is noticeably worse at 4-on-5, but the difference is also evident in the statistics that try to explain it.
Sorokin, who stopped 14.58 goals against while shorthanded last season, which was better than expected, has saved -5.56 goals against in the same situation this season.
There has never been a problem with Sorokin’s play this season. But there’s a big difference between being historically good and just being good.
The Islanders have officially activated Robert Bortuzzo (high ankle sprain) from long-term injured reserve.
