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$66 Million Goalie Reportedly Nearly Traded at the NHL Draft for a Top-5 Pick

Originally posted on House of Hockey | By Tom Banks | Last updated Jul 7, 2025 2:20 PM ET

Ilya Sorokin has been a standout for the New York Islanders, but with the team looking to get younger, he was almost dealt at the 2025 NHL Draft.

The New York Islanders picked Matthew Schaefer with the No. 1 pick in the 2025 NHL Draft, and on top of that, they were somehow able to land Viktor Eklund and Kashawn Aitcheson as well, bringing home one of the best first rounds in recent NHL memory.

However, all reports coming into the draft had this team coveting local forward James Hagens out of Boston College, but unfortunately, they weren't able to move back into the top-10, with the Boston Bruins selecting the talented forward.

Now, a report has revealed just how hard this team tried to get back into the top-10, with Frank Seravalli revealing that at one stage, Ilya Sorokin may have been on the table in a trade with the Utah Mammoth, who owned the No. 4 overall pick, eventually using it to select Caleb Desnoyers out of the QMJHL.

Obviously, the deal never came to fruition, and it's unclear why, whether or not the Islanders didn't want to give up extra assets or whether it was Utah demanding too much, but in the end, the Islanders settled with using the two picks given to them in the Noah Dobson deal.

What this does signal is that the Islanders are ready for a full blown rebuild under Mathieu Darche, and with talented players like Sorokin and Mat Barzal potentially available, they could be sellers at the deadline in a big way.

Ultimately, this would have been one of the biggest draft day blockbusters we've seen in recent years, and while it never came to fruition, Sorokin could be a player to keep an eye on for goaltender needy teams in 2025/26.

This article first appeared on House of Hockey and was syndicated with permission.

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