We’re just past the halfway mark in the 2025-26 NHL season and there’s heavy chalk in all of the player awards markets, except for the Vezina. The Jets’ sudden plummet from perennial league royalty to 11 straight losses has opened the race after Connor Hellebuyck’s back-to-back claim of the hardware.

As the old saying goes, a great goaltender can make a good team better. Right now, that’s what Ilya Sorokin is doing for the New York Islanders. Sorokin has been widely considered one of the best netminders in the league,

Sorokin earned his fifth Iron Man mask as the New York Islanders’ player of the game on Thursday night, thanks to a 35-save shutout in a 1-0 win over the Edmonton Oilers. It was Sorokin’s league-leading fifth shutout of the season and 27 th of his career, padding his lead as the Islanders all-time leader in clean sheets.