Ilya Sorokin Practices With Team for First Time Since Back Surgery
Ilya Sorokin returned to practice Thursday morning for the first time since undergoing back surgery this offseason.
“I feel really good,” Sorokin told the media after practice. “Great job by the staff the last two months. I feel good mentally and physically.”
Sorokin did not commit to being fully healthy for the regular season, but did say he would do “everything to be ready” for his team’s home opener against the Utah Hockey Club on Oct. 10.
Head coach Patrick Roy said Thursday that the Islanders would “give him his time” to get healthy.
“We’re just going to go day by day,” Roy said. “I can’t say more than that because we don’t know what tomorrow will be. I’d rather keep it day by day and see how he is. We’re going to give him his time, no doubt about it.”
The franchise goaltender did not appear limited at practice on Thursday, sharing the net with fellow goalies Semyon Varlamov and Marcus Hogberg for the entire session.
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This came one day after Sorokin took the ice with Varlamov and Hogberg prior to practice on Wednesday. He then moved to another rink to work with goaltending coach Piero Greco while the rest of the team skated during the main session.
Sorokin is recovering from an offseason back procedure, the first surgery of his career. The exact timing and details of the surgery are unknown.
Lou Lamoriello announced during rookie camp last month that Sorokin had suffered an upper-body during the offseason and would miss “a day or two” of training camp.
“During summer training, he had a little bit of a thing. He is skating, but there’s nothing we are concerned about,” Lamoriello said.
This came a few days after Elliotte Friedman speculated on his podcast that Sorokin was “battling something.”
The Islanders have insurance behind Sorokin, headlined by Varlamov, who is coming off a season in which he led his team into the playoffs. He has ample experience playing under Patrick Roy, suiting up for the head coach in Colorado from 2013 until 2016. In Roy’s first season with the Avalanche, Varlamov went 41-14-6, making a career-high 1,867 saves to earn a nomination for the Vezina Trophy.
The Islanders also added Hogberg to the organization in May, a 2013 third-round pick who spent the last three seasons in the Swedish Hockey League.
Journeyman Keith Kinkaid was attending camp on a professional tryout offer, but he recently signed a one-year, one-way AHL contract with the Charlotte Checkers, the team announced Wednesday.
Featured image courtesy of Jasen Vinlove/USA TODAY Sports
