"He's super-fast from post-to-post," Kempe said. "Sometimes I think he's out of the play and it's an obvious goal, but he's so quick and can get up and over to the puck. He makes everything look so easy."
That sentiment was shared by Vey, who played parts of four seasons in the NHL with Vancouver, LA and Calgary and has been one of CSKA's leading scorers in the past two seasons. As impressed as Vey is by Sorokin's natural skill, he's blown away by his work ethic.
After CSKA won the KHL title last season, the Russian players were given the option of skipping the first of two training camps this season, the one meant for imports and younger players. Sorokin decided to forgo an extra two weeks of summer to attend camp.
"He was the only high-end guy that was there, he didn't want to take the two weeks off," Vey said. "That shows how committed he is to wanting to get better. That was an eye-opening experience. He's one of the best and still wants to get better. That's a good trait to have."
That's just the on-ice portion and both Kempe and Vey know there's an off-ice transition when moving overseas. Having a Russian teammate like Semyon Varlamov, who has a relationship and shared an agent with Sorokin, should help ease the transition and any cultural/language barriers. According to his teammates, Sorokin has taken some initiative to start learning English.
"For me, I thought he was a good teammate and we got along well," Vey said. "It's hard because when you go over there, most guys speak Russian, so it's a different dynamic than in North America, but he's a guy who is in the mix, he's not one of those guys who just keeps to himself and everything."
