What year is? You would be forgiven if you had to think about it. Time has been mixing, warping, and creeping for so long that it can be difficult to remember when something happened or what day it is or how long an event has passed.
Goalkeeper Ilya Sorokin was selected by the Islanders in the third round, 78th overall, in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft. Six years, 15 days, two islanders general managers, dozens of wins and a host of awards. , all in his native Russia later, he finally signed his entry-level contract with the team.
The announcement came tonight from Sorokin’s new agent Dan Milstein, who tweeted the phrase that islander fans had been eagerly waiting for. With a custom hashtag and everything.
And of course there is Capfriendly with money matters.
Ilya Sorokin’s 2019-20 year entry-level contract with the #Islanders is simply a formality, but it’s for $ 925,000 in base salary.
– CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) July 13, 2020
The signing delay was the result of elections on both sides and in the CBA hoop, including the fact that the NHL oddly readjusted a permanent rule to prevent free agents like Sorokin from playing in this year’s messy postseason tournament. Along the way there were rumors and hopes and false business reports and a pandemic and tons of waves.
But all that is over. Really. I’m serious. I know i know We’ve heard all kinds of things about this guy coming or not coming for what seems like forever. This time, it is real. His signature is on the dotted line and the man considered the best non-NHL goalkeeper prospect is finally, actually, a New York islander.
Excellent. That means you will be playing right away, right? Well, therein lies the problem. According to the new CBA reflecting on the pandemic and ratified by the NHL and NHLPA over the weekend, late-signed free agents like Sorokin (and Kirill Kaprizov of Minnesota and Alexander Romanov of Montreal) are banned from playing in the games during Phases 3 and 4 of the NHL. Back to the game plan. They can participate in practice and effectively burn their entry-level contracts right away to sign a second, larger contract in no time.
Ilya Sorokin signs her one-year entry-level contract with the #isles and immediately burns for a year without being eligible to play in the NHL reboot. And you’ll need another deal before next season.
– Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) July 13, 2020
According to Arthur Staple’s article in The Athletic, Sorokin may sign that other agreement at this time.
Sorokin is eligible to sign a contract for 2020-21 and beyond immediately, though there was no indication on Monday that it was ready to be announced shortly after Dan Milstein, Sorokin’s agent, tweeted the news that his client had signed for 2019-20. With the salary restriction for the islanders and Sorokin unable to play an NHL game before next season, the next contract is unlikely to be a bankruptcy, probably in the range of $ 2-2.5 million per season in a two or three -year deal. Sorokin can become an unrestricted free agent in 2023.
Therefore, the debut of Sorokin’s Islanders will likely be every time the next season begins, possibly in early December. By then, he wouldn’t have played a professional hockey game in 10 months. But he will have had plenty of time to work with goalkeeping coaches Mitch Korn and Piero Greco, meet their new teammates, find a place to live on Long Island, and sample the ever-changing greasy cuisine of All American Burgers.
That also means that the Islanders’ goalkeepers for their play-in series with the Panthers (and potentially beyond) will be Semyon Varlamov, a friend of Sorokin’s who signed a four-year contract last summer, and Thomas Greiss, who wait for it to come closer. The end of a surprisingly successful five-year career with the club.
Every time he hits the ice in blue and orange, Sorokin will be one of the most anticipated newcomers in quite some time. During his time at the KHL, the 24-year-old (turning 25 on August 24) has racked up a ridiculous number of wins, prizes and accolades, while keeping his saving percentage at a ridiculously high level. In 2018-19, he led CSKA to a Gagarin Cup championship, was named MVP of the playoffs, and led all goalkeepers in shutouts both in the regular season (11) and in the playoffs (5). In this truncated season, he was still part of the KHL All Star team for the fifth time and had nine shutouts from the regular season. CSKA had swept its first round of the playoffs before the league closed due to COVID-19.
Prospective spotter Scott Wheeler of The Athletic says Sorokin has a chance to be even better than his compatriots and fellow KHL miners Ilya Samsonov, Igor Shesterkin and Alexandar Georgiev.
He entered the second best professional league in the world at age 17 and has a career saving percentage of .930 in 244 regular season games (!) Since then. It’s the equivalent of four 60-game seasons as a practically unflappable goalkeeper. During that time, he also has a .940 save percentage in 69 playoff games. We are talking about a massive sample size.
Exciting! And he’s been waiting to sign with the islanders, yes, our islanders, for a while. Eventually he will have a chance to show what he can do in the NHL. We have waited so long, we will have to move on. At least now, we have the signature we needed.
