Ilya Sorokin makes Islanders history as Vezina Trophy finalist

Named a finalist for the Vezina Trophy for the second time in his six-year NHL career on Wednesday, Sorokin became the first Isles netminder to receive multiple nominations for the NHL’s annual award for the best goaltender.

He was announced alongside Boston’s Jeremy Swayman and Tampa Bay’s Andrei Vasilevskiy.

Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin is a Vezina Trophy finalist for the second time. Corey Sipkin for the NY POST

After finishing as a runner-up following the 2022-23 season, Sorokin has a legitimate chance at winning this year’s award.

This marks the sixth time in franchise history that an Islanders goaltender has been named a finalist for the award, which is selected by the 32 NHL general managers. Sorokin, the Isles’ 78th overall pick in the 2014 NHL Draft, was already among Billy Smith (1982), Roland Melanson (1983), Kelly Hrudey (1988) and Robin Lehner (2019) on the list of the Isles goalies to be up for the honor.

Only Smith has actually won the award.

The 30-year-old Sorokin led the NHL with seven shutouts this season, which also tied a franchise record for the most in a single campaign.

In a 9-0 win over the Devils on Jan. 6, the 44 saves he posted counted as the most by any NHL goalie in a shutout this season and marked his 26th career shutout, breaking an Islanders all-time shutout record that had stood for nearly 50 years.

Among all NHL goaltenders, Sorokin led in road wins (18), ranked eighth in saves (1,386), tied for ninth in wins (29) and games played (55), and finished 10th in total minutes (3,226).

While the Islanders collapsed in the final three and a half weeks of the season to miss the playoffs, the Russian netminder registered a 29-24-2 record, a .906 save percentage and a 2.68 goals-against average.

He went 15-5-0 when facing more than 30 shots this season, including a franchise-record setting streak of 13-0-0 in such games to start the 2025-26 season. From March 17 to April 12, Sorokin backstopped the Islanders in 14 consecutive games, including nine straight starts and four back-to-back slates.

This season was the second of Sorokin’s eight-year, $66 million deal he signed with the Islanders in July 2023.