Ilya Sorokin rated among NHL’s elite netminders as Islanders enter 2026-27

The New York Islanders will open the 2026-27 season with Ilya Sorokin again viewed as one of the NHL’s premier goaltenders. In a preseason ranking published by Yahoo Sports on Aug. 17, Sorokin was listed as the fourth-best netminder entering the year, a valuation that follows a memorable 2025-26 campaign in which he reached the Vezina Trophy final for the second time in his NHL career.

The ranking’s case for Sorokin rested on performance benchmarks from last season. Yahoo Sports noted that he finished with seven shutouts, described as league-high. That kind of output matters in the modern NHL because it is not just about save totals, it is about controlling games over the long stretch of a season and preventing a team’s mistakes from turning into multi-goal deficits.

Sorokin’s position in the rankings also reflects the broader expectation placed on top-tier starters, especially for teams whose defensive play can vary. The Yahoo Sports writeup frames New York’s situation as a “challenging defensive landscape,” and it casts Sorokin as the backstop who can still maintain an elite standard even when the surrounding structure is under pressure.

For the Islanders, that framing has practical value heading into the season. When a goaltender is ranked in the top tier, it changes how the team can approach defensive details, because it gives the coaching staff confidence that even difficult stretches can be absorbed. It also affects how opponents plan their attack, since a goalie who can convert key chances into shutouts forces offenses to press harder, often earlier, and increases the value of disciplined shot selection.

Sorokin’s Vezina-final track record provides additional context. Being named a finalist twice already places him among the league’s most consistently recognized difference-makers at the position. Yahoo Sports’ ranking, with Sorokin coming in at No. 4 entering 2026-27, suggests that voters and analysts expect him to remain near the top rather than as a one-season anomaly.

There is, however, an important caveat in preseason evaluations: they are projections, not results. The Yahoo Sports article emphasizes both Sorokin’s ceiling and the difficulty of the defensive environment, which implicitly points to the season-to-season nature of goaltending context. What matters next is whether the Islanders can stabilize the quality of chances allowed, and whether Sorokin can sustain the combination of volume saves and game-ending shutout performances that drove last year’s recognition.