The NHL’s 2020-21 Dark-Horse Rookie of the Year Candidates
By Nick Herrera
Ilya Sorokin, Goaltender, New York Islanders
Ilya Sorokin was the 78th overall pick in the Third Round of the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Over his past three seasons in the KHL, he averaged a very good GAA of 1.41 and a Save Percentage of .935.
Sorokin barely meets the NHL criteria as a rookie. There is an age cutoff of 26, and Sorokin just turned 25 in August. Being more physically and mentally mature than the average rookie as well as having played in arguably the best Hockey league outside of the NHL for years, now Sorokin is in a position to be a revelation for the Isles.
The Islanders are notoriously a defence-first team under Head Coach Barry Trotz. Mathew Barzal could easily put up twenty more points a year in a different system. That being said, the hockey on Long Island is very competitive and entertaining. For Sorokin, he will quickly gain confidence in the defense in front of him.
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Another aspect of Sorokin’s upcoming debut is that the Isles split their games almost exactly in half between Thomas Greiss and fellow Russian Semyon Varlamov. New York has moved on from Greiss. This year’s Isles tandem will be two Russians as Varly will most likely enter the season as the number one goalie with Sorokin planning on playing way more than the average backup.