Islanders Change Coaches After Goalie Struggles

Islanders' goaltender Ilya Sorokin has seen struggles in the crease — allowing four goals in each of his first four starts under Greco.

Who is Sergei Naumovs?

Sorokin is in the midst of his second year of a $66 million contract that runs through 2032. The netminder has a history with Naumovs dating back to their time together with CSKA Moscow in the KHL from 2018-20.

Darche said Sorokin's relationship with Naumovs played a factor in what was his sole decision.

"Piero has done a great job for the organization for the last seven years,” Darche said. “We just felt at this time it was the right timing to have a reset with our goalies ... It’s my decision, it’s not on the player. I know [Sorokin] had success with Sergei, and that’s where we went. It’s 100% my decision, and the goalie had nothing to do with it.”

Naumovs, 56, arrived in Bridgeport just last season following 15 years in the KHL. Sorokin had four top-10 Vezina finishes with Greco as his coach, including a runner-up nod to Boston’s Linus Ullmark in 2022-23.

This latest move for the Islanders comes after a 3-3-0 start that includes a 4-3 home win over the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night. It is very unusual for a coaching change to be made under this current timeline.

Also against San Jose, No. 1 overall pick Matthew Schaefer scored a goal for the Islanders in the middle frame for his first career multi-point game. Schaefer now holds the longest point streak by any defenseman from the start of their career.

The Islanders also announced that injured forward Pierre Engvall had ankle surgery and is thus expected to miss the entire season, or roughly five to six months, according to Darche, who also said goaltender Semyon Varlamov continues to progress toward a return from knee surgery.