The New York Islanders have announced an eight-year contract extension for franchise netminder Ilya Sorokin. Per TSN’s Chris Johnston, the deal carries an $8.25M AAV. It will go into effect at the start of the 2024-25 season, as Sorokin still has a contract for next year.
Per CapFriendly, Sorokin’s extension carries a full no-move clause for the first four years of the deal, and then a modified no-trade clause for the next four years. Under the terms of the modified no-trade clause, Sorokin can submit a list of 16 teams he cannot be traded to.
While the Islanders have made quite a bit of news Saturday with their long-term deals for Semyon Varlamov, Scott Mayfield, and Pierre Engvall, this is easily the most significant development of the day for the team. Sorokin is the Islanders’ best player and someone firmly in the conversation for best goalie in the entire NHL.
Sorokin has been the Islanders’ undisputed number-one goalie for the last two seasons. In 2021-22, he started 52 games and posted a .925 save percentage with a 2.40 goals-against-average. He finished sixth in Vezina Trophy voting as well.
This past season, Sorokin posted nearly identical numbers in 60 starts with a .924 save percentage and 2.34 goals-against-average. Sorokin ended up the Vezina Trophy runner-up and was elected to the NHL’s second All-Star team.
The Islanders are a veteran squad built to win old-school defensive hockey games. They grind out tough contests and look to keep their games as manageable as possible. Having an elite goaltender like Sorokin is essential to that recipe for success, and now by locking up Sorokin for as long as possible, they’ve managed to retain the most important piece in their puzzle.
At an AAV just a shade over $8M, Sorokin will be earning less than the two highest-paid netminders of all time, Carey Price and Sergei Bobrovsky. His deal’s AAV will rank second in the NHL behind Andrei Vasilevskiy, reflecting Sorokin’s well-earned status as one of the NHL’s best goalies.
After a playoffs that saw the Vegas Golden Knights win a Stanley Cup behind the relatively unproven Adin Hill, questions are going to be asked about whether signing Sorokin to this deal is the smartest investment of a team’s resources. But from the Islanders’ perspective, they really had no other choice.
This is the type of contract Sorokin’s brilliance has earned him, and the Islanders have built an entire lineup around their top-of-the-line starting netminder. Simply by locking Sorokin up for as long as possible and for a decent bit less than other top-of-the-line goalie deals, the Islanders can reasonably feel as though this contract is a major win.
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