Sorokin Named Finalist for Vezina Trophy

The National Hockey League announced today that New York Islanders goaltender Ilya Sorokin is a finalist for the 2026 Vezina Trophy, given annually to the NHL’s best goaltender. The winner is selected by the 32 NHL General Managers.

Sorokin is one of three finalists for the award, alongside Jeremy Swayman of the Boston Bruins and Andrei Vasilevskiy of the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Sorokin led the NHL with seven shutouts, while posting a 29-24-2 record, a .906 save percentage and a 2.68 goals-against average over 55 games (54 starts) in his sixth NHL season. His save percentage ranked sixth and his goals-against average was seventh among goalies with at least 50 appearances. Among all netminders, Sorokin also led in road wins (18), ranked eighth in saves (1,386), ninth in shots against (1,530), tied for ninth in wins (29) and games played (55), and 10th in minutes (3,226). He also paced all goalies in high-danger saves (452) and high-danger save percentage (.864).

The Mezhdurechensk, RUS native went 15-5-0 when facing more than 30 shots, including a franchise-record setting streak of 13-0-0 in such games to start the season. His 15 wins in that scenario also led the NHL. He turned aside 44 shots on January 6, the most saves by any NHL goalie in a shutout this season. The performance marked his 26th career shutout, breaking the Islanders all-time shutout record that had stood for nearly 50 years. His seven shutouts also tied for the most by an Islander in a single season.

Sorokin was named the NHL’s “First Star of the Week” for the period ending December 7. He played in 14 consecutive games from March 17 to April 12, including nine straight starts and four back-to-back sets.

Sorokin is the first Islanders goaltender to receive multiple Vezina Trophy nominations. This marks the sixth time in franchise history that an Islanders goaltender has been named a finalist for the award, joining Billy Smith (1982), Roland Melanson (1983), Kelly Hrudey (1988), Robin Lehner (2019), and himself in 2023. Smith is the only one to have won the award.

Prior to joining the Islanders, Sorokin played eight seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL) with CSKA Moscow and Metallurg Novokuznetsk, recording a 1.70 goals-against average and a .930 save percentage across 244 regular season starts. He also earned a gold medal with the Olympic Athletes from Russia at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

The Islanders selected Sorokin in the third round (78th overall) of the 2014 NHL Draft.