NOW AVAILABLE! New York Islanders: A to Z will introduce a new generation of fans to the legendary players, magical moments, and colorful 50-year history of the Islanders.
Contributions from Brendan Burke, Stan Fischler, Chris King, and Jiggs McDonald.
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A portion of the proceeds goes to the Islanders Children’s Foundation.
Good Morning, Islanders Country.
No news is ____ news.
I asked our Twitter followers to fill in the blank this week. Their responses ranged from the obvious to the amusing. No news is Islander news.
It’s the way it’s been since Lou Lamoriello got here, and it’s the way it remains while we wait to find out if Lou Lamoriello will remain here.
It’s somewhat annoying, somewhat expected at this point. Is the silence deafening? No, not when it’s usually quiet.
There was the prevailing thought that this week would provide clarity, surely something would be said publicly! Well, it’s Friday, and we’re still waiting, and the longer we wait, the longer our speculative minds are left trying to figure out what it all means.
Lou’s son, who he always refers to as “Chris Lamoriello” is one option, while others think that the holding pattern is because Lamoriello is waiting to see what happens with former protege Kyle Dubas and the Toronto Maple Leafs. There’s even been some other ideas have that perhaps don’t make sense at all are being thrown out there as fans try to make sense of it all.
The Rangers fired Gerard Gallant after player exit interviews. Agree or not, it was decisive action by GM Chris Drury. The team lost; they underachieved; they’re moving on. The Islanders lost; they underachieved (by some standards), so what are they doing? If it were nothing, they’d tell us, right…right?
Fans want to know the direction of their franchise.
They invest time, money, and emotional energy into the team and, to a degree, want closure to the last season before they start looking ahead at what’s next.
But by now, even the patient fans are getting impatient, and most have probably wavered back and forth in recent weeks deciphering what no news means. One day it's cleaning house; the next day, it’s staying the course.
There are only so many potential ways this can go, we just want to know which one it is by now, but the reality is that no news is just Islanders’ news, and it means nothing until it doesn’t.
Coming up, Ilya Sorokin is a first-time Vezina finalist, and we take a look at the many ways his season was remarkable. Plus, micro stats tell a key story of the first round; Wayne Gretzky and Billy Smith celebrate an anniversary, and the Sutter Brothers have a huge night in Edmonton.
Let’s dive in.
📰 NEWS: It's been expected for months, but now it's official. Ilya Sorokin is a Vezina Trophy Finalist for the first time in his career. He is joined by Linus Ullmark of the Boston Bruins and Connor Hellebuyck of the Winnipeg Jets.
Sorokin appeared in a career-high 62 games this season, posting a solid 31-22-7 record as the team's workhorse down the stretch of the season as the Islanders clinched a playoff berth in their final regular season game of the season. In doing so, he became only the fifth goaltender in team history to win 30 games in a season and the first since Jaroslav Halak won a club-record 38 in 2014-15.
The 27-year-old Sorokin finished sixth in the league with a 2.34 goals against average (GAA) and was third with a .924 save percentage. He also had a league-best six shutouts after recording seven the previous season. Sorokin already has 16 shutouts for his career, third most in team history behind only Billy Smith (22) and Glenn 'Chico' Resch (25).
"Sorokin is a world-class, all-star goalie," Scott Mayfield said via NewYorkIslanders.com. "He should be right up there in all the MVP talks, how important he is to our team and what he's been able to do. Just a special player."
Ahead of Thursday’s announcement, Eyes on Isles provided five reasons why Sorokin would be a Vezina Finalist, including his league-leading shutouts, dominant home numbers and highlight reel, and game-altering saves.
Some of our favorite Sorokin stats:
◾️ After six more shutouts this season (16 for his career), Sorokin has recorded a shutout in 12.4% of his career starts, which is the highest mark in league history among goalies with at least 100 starts since 1943-44.
◾️Among active NHL goalies, Sorokin has the best career home marks in both GAA (2.01) and save percentage (93.1%). He was 20-10-3 with a 1.91 GAA and a .936 save percentage at UBS Arena this season.
◾️ The 27-year-old appeared in 62 games this season (after 52 in 2021-22), starting 60 of them, and became the first Islanders goaltender to appear in 60 or more games since Rick DiPietro did it in three consecutive seasons from 2005-06 to 2007-08. Ron Hextall (93-94), Tommy Salo (97-98), Chris Osgood (01-02), and DiPietro are the only other goaltenders in team history to play 60 games.
While Linus Ullmark of the Boston Bruins (league leader in wins, GAA, and save %) is expected to win the Vezina after a historic regular season, Sorokin was the darling of the advanced analytics crowd for his saves above expected numbers, and other media members felt he more deserving as well given the impact on the team. J Fresh Hockey provided how the Vezina Finalists compared to one another in various Goals Saved Above Expected Model Comparisons.
"He definitely deserves it," Semyon Varlamov said. "In my mind, [Sorokin] deserves to win the Vezina this year; he played outstanding.”
👏🏻 KING CLANCY: Earlier in the week, Isles captain Anders Lee was nominated King Clancy Memorial Trophy, which is presented “to the player who best exemplifies leadership qualities on and off the ice and has made a noteworthy humanitarian contribution in his community.” Each nominee is selected by their NHL club, and the winner will be voted on by senior NHL executives that are led by Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly.
For The Hockey News, Stan Fischler tells us why Lee is more than deserving to win the award and shares a personal anecdote about the time he spent time with Lee and his then-girlfriend and future wife at a pre-season party in Greenpoint before the start of the team’s first season in Brooklyn.
🏒 NOT IDEAL: We all noticed how much difficulty the Islanders had exiting the zone throughout the series with the Carolina Hurricanes. Well, it was as bad, if not worse, than we thought. Corey Sznajder tracks micro stats for All Three Zones and provided a view of the most “failed” plays in the first round of the playoffs.
This includes failed entries, failed exits, and retrievals.
Four of the top five spots were held by Islanders defensemen, with Adam Pelech in the top spot. As we haven’t forgotten yet, it was Pelech’s turnover in OT that led to Paul Statsny’s game-winner in Game 6.
🏒 40 years ago in Edmonton, the Islanders were on their way to a 2-0 series lead against the high-powered Oilers when Billy Smith got Wayne Gretzky angrier than he’d ever been on the ice. Late in the third period of the Islanders’ 6-3 win, Smith swung his goalie stick out as Gretzky came out from behind the net.
The play sent the NHL’s most prolific scorer fell to the ice. The mild-mannered Gretzky then confronted Smith, screaming words in his direction as his teammates rushed to his defense. "From the way Gretzky collapsed," Islanders star forward Mike Bossy chuckled after the game. "You'd have thought Smitty had used an axe. It was some dive."
“Billy accidentally slashed me in the leg,” Gretzky said after the game. “What can you do? It bothers me when people say he didn’t mean to hurt you, he didn’t hit your head. My knee is as important to me as my head.” It took several minutes to regain order, and Smith was given a 5-minute major penalty for his antics.
“I hit him on the pants; I just tapped him,” said Smith. “Tomorrow, I’ll go out and buy him a new pair of pants because if he says that hurt, he needs them.”
“He tried to cut behind the net and tried to hit his stick, which is a normal play for any goalie, Smith added. “You see guys break sticks over arms, and he’s complaining about this.”
Only 1:28 later, Edmonton’s Dave Lumley received a five-minute major of his own for spearing Smith, who was uninjured despite the theatrics displayed in the crease. Smith and the Islanders got the last laugh by sweeping Edmonton in the Series, with Smith named the Conn Smythe winner.
📊 SOUND SMART: Ilya Sorokin is the fifth Islander goaltender to be named a Vezina finalist, joining Billy Smith (1982), Roland Melanson (1983), Kelly Hrudey (1988), and Robin Lehner (2019). Smith is the only Islanders goaltender to have won the award. That award-winning season was highlighted by Lighthouse Hockey’s Dan Saraceni in his Islanders Awards Winners series.
🎥 ISLES REWIND: On May 12, 1983, the Islanders defeat the Edmonton Oilers 6-3 in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Finals. Brent Sutter (2G, 1A) and Duane Sutter (4A) combined for seven points. The Islanders would head home to Long Island with a two games to none lead and complete a series sweep a few days later for their fourth consecutive Stanley Cup.
🎧 Islanders Anxiety - Episode 249 - That’s Not Normal “While still waiting for the GM and coach to speak, Mike & Dan analyze the Islanders players' post-season pressers, and who said what in words and body language. Some players were more animated or unsettled in their answers, while others held court and made us emotional.”
🔗 Islanders Prospect Report: May 9, 2023, by Rachel Luscher, NewYorkIslanders.com “Isaiah George is headed to the Ontario Hockey League Finals for the first time in his career. The London Knights beat the Sarnia Sting in six games to punch their ticket to the OHL Finals, where they'll take on the Peterborough Petes on home ice. Game One is slated for Thursday.”
🔗 The Draft Prospectus by Michael Stahurksi This is a new substack we recommend that has in-depth details about 2023 NHL Draft prospects along with the needs and prospect pool of NHL teams.
We definitely recommend that you check it out - it’s free to subscribe.
And we leave you with this…Battlin’ Billy and The Great One made up!
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