Ilya Sorokin’s season is officially underway in the KHL. We can start the countdown until his season, and contract ends so he can join the New York Islanders.

The KHL season is officially underway, and every New York Islanders fan is officially a CSKA Moscow fan. Islanders prospect, Ilya Sorokin is in the final year of his KHL deal and could be making the leap over to the NHL after the season.

While Sorokin wasn’t in the lineup today, he will likely play a huge role for CSKA in 2019-2020. Last year, he finished with a .940 save percentage and a 1.16 goals against average in his age 23 season.

He’s someone Isles fans have kept a close eye on due to his video game-like numbers that he puts up in the KHL year after year. This time, the Isles have reason to celebrate his big numbers.

The expectation is for Ilya Sorokin to leave the KHL and come over to America after this season. The Isles aligned that plan with how they operated in the offseason. Instead of signing Robin Lehner they went after Semyon Varlamov.

Varlamov has the same agent as Sorokin and is friendly with him too. While Lou Lamoriello will never admit it, you have to realize that the connection to Sorokin was part of the reason Varlamov was brought in here.

It was well documented, Sorokin didn’t want to play for Garth Snow. Now with Lou Lamoriello, Barry Trotz, Mitch Korn, and Piero Greco in the fold, Sorokin is open to the idea and the Isles are banking on him to make the jump over to the NHL next year.

Sorokin and Varlamov is the Isles Plan A for 2020-2021. With Sorokin’s deal expiring, he is set to be 25 years old when available to join the team. Due to his age, he doesn’t have to sign an ELC so Sorokin will be able to sign a regular contract paying him more money.

Is it a coincidence that Sorokin’s KHL deal expires at the exact age where he doesn’t have to take an ELC to come over to North America? Probably not.

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CSKA’s last regular-season game is February 27. They’re expected to be a playoff team so by the latest, Sorokin will play until April. After that, he’s all Isles.