The deal will pay Sorokin $2 million, with half coming by way of a signing bonus and the other half as salary, according to Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman
Sorokin, 24, inked a one-year pact for 2019-20 with the Islanders on Monday that allows him to join the club at training camp. However, he will not be permitted to play in Phase 4, which marks the beginning of the qualifying round.
The Russian puck-stopper has spent the previous five seasons with CSKA Moscow of the KHL. He posted a 1.50 goals-against average and a .935 save percentage over 40 appearances this season.
Sorokin was selected by New York in the third round of the 2014 NHL Draft.
The honor recognizes the most outstanding player in the NHL as selected by his peers.
Draisaitl is this season's Art Ross Trophy winner as the league's leading point- scorer. The Edmonton Oilers star tallied a career-high 110 points while adding 43 goals in 71 games.
MacKinnon was a force all season for the often shorthanded Colorado Avalanche, leading the club with 35 goals and 93 points in 69 games. The 6-foot pivot finished with 43 more points than his next closest teammate.
Panarin enjoyed a career campaign during his first season with the New York Rangers. The dazzling Russian set career bests in goals (32), assists (63), and points (95) to help accelerate the Blue Shirts' rebuild and lead the club to the 24-team qualifying round.
Tampa Bay Lightning forward Nikita Kucherov earned the honor in 2018-19.
Travis Dermott looked down at the dressing room floor for a moment before staring at the questioner with a curious grin.
"This is deep," said the 23-year-old Toronto Maple Leafs defenseman.
Dermott had just been asked a very specific question: What's the hardest skill or trick to master, the most difficult thing for you to do on the ice, as a professional hockey player?
Kevin Sousa / Getty Images
It's a simple yet loaded inquiry. By the time NHLers reach the pinnacle of the sport, most hockey-related skills are second nature. But no player, not even Connor McDavid, has mastered every aspect of the game. There's always something to work on, a skill or trick that still regularly stumps them.
"High-flipping a puck really consistently is a pretty sought-after skill," Dermott said after some reflection. "I could be better at that."
Dermott then referenced a sequence in the Maple Leafs' Jan. 2 victory over the Winnipeg Jets. Handling the puck deep in his own end with 13 seconds left in the first period, he flung a Hail Mary pass to streaking teammate William Nylander. The puck traveled over the heads of three Jets players and found Nylander. He couldn't corral the bobbling rubber disc, killing the rush.
"That's it," Dermott said, locking in his answer. "Getting high flips to land flat."
In the months following that January conversation with Dermott, theScore posed the same question to several of his NHL peers. Here are some of the best answers and explanations as training camps ramp up ahead of the 24-team postseason:
Practice makes perfect
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Fact: Nobody has tipped more shots on goal than Anders Lee since the 6-foot-3 center made his NHL debut on April 3, 2013. The New York Islanders captain has scored 38 goals from 214 recorded tips, trailing only Chris Kreider of the New York Rangers (42) in tipped tallies over that period.
One would think Lee has the net-front playbook mastered. Not so, he says, noting that freeing himself from defenders to find perfect tipping positioning at the perfect moment is a skill he still polishes during practice.
"It's timing, right? And you've got to be careful with pushing off," Lee said. "There's a little bit of gamesmanship in front when shots are coming through from the point. If I see (teammate Mathew Barzal) rolling off and I think he's shooting, then it's a small jab or a turn of my body the right way.
"At the same time, you have to screen the goalie and then find the rebound. There's a lot of moving parts. Sometimes you do two of the three things and it goes in. Sometimes you don't do any of them and the puck doesn't go in."
Emulating Lidstrom
Keep your head up, kid!
It's a coaching order usually reserved for young players carrying the puck into dangerous areas of the ice. But the phrase has another meaning for Calgary Flames defenseman Noah Hanifin: Keep your head up, kid, when you walk the blue line.
"You look at a guy like (Hall of Fame defenseman Nicklas) Lidstrom and he was probably the best at it - ever," Hanifin, 23, said. "He would walk the line and take a slapper, and he'd have his head up the whole time so he could find the guys who were looking to tip."
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Hanifin, the fifth overall pick of the 2015 NHL Draft, played in all situations during the 2019-20 regular season, earning 21:10 of ice time a night. Skating has always been his calling card and he has decent puck skills; a change of habit - head up! - while handling the puck at the point could go a long way toward increasing his middling production (22 points in 70 games).
"It's a practice thing. I mean, it is hard, not an easy thing to do," he said. "But Lidstrom got a lot of his goals and points by having that ability to see everything while he was walking the line. He kept his head up. Erik Karlsson does it really well, too. I think that's something I want to master."
Quick feet, quick hands, quick mind
Ask 100 scouts to identify the one thing that vaults McDavid above other NHL stars, and you'll likely get a unanimous vote for his propensity to do everything at warp speed.
McDavid can blaze down the ice at upwards of 30 mph, and he consistently keeps his brain and hands operating at a similar rate. This triple-whammy of quickness is the envy of players across the league, according to forward Evander Kane, whose San Jose Sharks were victims of McDavid's brilliance earlier this season:
"If you ask any player, that's almost impossible to do," Kane said. "Because when you have the puck on your stick, you have to concentrate a little bit more, with people trying to hit you. Yet you have to have your head up. So to stickhandle with your head up and to go as fast as possible, that's what separates McDavid from everybody else, by far."
The two-time 30-goal scorer continued: "In the NHL, whether it's a first- or fourth-line guy, everybody has hands. But can they use their hands to the best of their ability with any sort of speed? That's the key. That's the really hard part."
Outsmarting the forecheck
By Tyson Barrie's estimation, there's an optimal mindset for the puck-retrieving NHL defenseman trying to elude a pesky forechecker, and it starts with assessing the zone and controlling the sequence of events.
Easier said than done.
"You try to read where the forechecker is, where your D partner is, where your outlet - the forward - is. All while trying to not get put through the end wall," the Maple Leafs defenseman said. "If you can get the net (involved) with the puck (on your stick), they should never get the puck from you. But that's not always the case. It's just the ideal scenario."
Mark Blinch / Getty Images
Barrie has dressed for a total of 554 NHL games across eight seasons with the Colorado Avalanche and the Maple Leafs. He's learned over the years to avoid being predictable and, under some circumstances, to allow the forechecker to make the first move.
"Instead of going 100 miles an hour back to the puck, it's better to almost let the guy ride you in and get a feel for where he's going and try to use his body to push off and go the other way," he said of the cat-and-mouse interaction between forwards and defensemen.
"They're reading off you, essentially, so if you can give them some misinformation, you're going to be able to beat them if they bite on it. If not … "
Clean shots, every single time
Rod Brind'Amour has called Warren Foegele "a perfect Carolina Hurricane." The head coach's compliment stems from the winger's honest game.
Part of what makes Foegele effective is his mobility on the defensive side of the puck. He strives to always get a piece of himself or his equipment into passing and shooting lanes, leaving little or no room for creativity from the puck carrier. His job, in essence, is to disrupt any offensive momentum by the opposing team.
But when Carolina has the puck, escaping the grasp of a harassing defender and firing an unabated shot on goal can be a troublesome undertaking for Foegele - and, truthfully, for every other NHLer who doesn't fall into the "elite offensively" category.
"Someone who's really good at separating the puck from his opponent is Nathan MacKinnon," Foegele said.
"Yes, he's so fast, everybody can see that, but he separates himself when he has the puck with this quick, shifty movement by changing the angle of the puck. He finds a way to get that clean shooting opportunity. His edgework is really good, too, which allows him to do that more frequently and effectively."
In the clip below, MacKinnon is forced to cut to the middle of the ice to find a spot from which to shoot, and he does so with incredible ease:
Bend it like Kucherov
Kevin Shattenkirk entered the league in 2010 as a 21-year-old defenseman for the Avalanche. In the decade since, through stints with the St. Louis Blues, Washington Capitals, Rangers, and Tampa Bay Lightning, he's witnessed an evolution of sorts.
"Guys are doing things that I've never done before," he said.
In particular, Shattenkirk often shakes his head at the goal-scoring tricks he sees from Lightning teammate Nikita Kucherov.
"He has this little hitch in his shot that he uses as deception. I know that I've tried to do it in practice, but I certainly don't have it. That would be one (difficult-to-master) skill," Shattenkirk said. "You can see some examples of it, off the power play on the half wall, the way he works it. It's this little kind of fake shot, push, and release it quickly."
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Kucherov, who followed an incredible 128-point campaign in 2018-19 with 85 points in 68 regular-season games this year, routinely terrorizes defenders with his deceptive ways.
"He has a defenseman in front of him, he's almost stationary on the half wall or the top of the circle, and he'll drop his shoulder, fake the shot to get the defenseman to freeze up," Shattenkirk said. "And then he pushes it to the inside and shoots around him. It's a very quick and - for him - smooth play.
"In doing it, he gets a screen from the defenseman, and he freezes both the defenseman and the goalie. It's pretty amazing."
Creating from the point
Jakob Chychrun enjoyed the best regular season of his young career in 2019-20. Finally healthy, he asserted himself well, taking advantage of more than 22 minutes of ice time per night to post strong counting stats and underlying numbers for the Arizona Coyotes.
Still missing from the defenseman's arsenal, though, is the ability to consistently get shots off quickly from the point, pouncing on the puck and firing it through a sea of bodies to the net in the manner of Brent Burns of the division rival Sharks.
"I don't know how he does it, and it plays right into their system," Chychrun said of the 2017 Norris Trophy winner. "In the O-zone, all of their forwards rim pucks (around the boards). They'll be in the corner and they'll rim it around, all the way around the wall to the other side of the ice, and Burns is just sitting there."
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It seems relatively straightforward when broken down step by step: Pick the puck up off the boards, immediately switch to a shooting posture, and fire a shot on net. But in real time? With nine other skaters and a goalie all occupying the same third of the rink? Good luck.
"That's a hard skill, actually: to get a puck off the wall on your forehand and get it off quick," Chychrun said. "That's something he does so well."
Next-level one-timers
Considering Alex Kerfoot has logged a mere 14 slap shots through 222 career NHL games, it's safe to say he's hesitant to unleash one-timers.
"It's something that I'm horrible at - I am really horrible at - and I'm trying to work on it," said the 5-foot-10, 185-pound Maple Leafs forward.
Kerfoot then praised all-world sniper and teammate Auston Matthews, former 60-goal scorer Steven Stamkos, and Alex Ovechkin - the ultimate marksman whose one-timing expertise is on clear display below - for finding ways to execute even when receiving an imperfect pass.
That ability to fire a one-timer when the puck is "anywhere around them" is what separates the three superstars from their NHL peers, Kerfoot said. Ovechkin, in particular, can seemingly guarantee his one-time howitzer makes its way to the opposing goal no matter how inaccurate the pass.
"It's really hard when the puck's not in your sweet spot or not perfectly in position," Kerfoot said. "Really hard to get good contact on the puck, and then to put it where you want to put it. And those guys can do it better than anyone."
The flashy flip
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There is something Noah Dobson would never think about trying in an NHL game, even if the extremely rare opportunity presented itself.
"Just looking around the league and seeing all of the guys doing the plays behind the net, where they're picking up the puck and going high," the young Islanders defenseman said.
The lacrosse-style goal made famous this season by Hurricanes winger Andrei Svechnikov - who tallied twice on behind-the-net trick shots - is extremely difficult to accomplish, even in practice.
"I've tried it a couple of times, and I haven't even been close to it," Dobson said with a smile.
St. Louis Blues captain and marquee pending unrestricted free agent Alex Pietrangelo hopes he and the club can work out a new contract that keeps him in the Gateway City.
"The goal is to get something done. That's been the goal since the beginning. We'll see where things go," Pietrangelo told NHL.com's Louie Korac on Monday as the Blues opened training camp. "(The) focus right now is to get through this thing healthy and playing. We'll see where things end up."
Pietrangelo is in the final season of a seven-year, $45.5-million contract signed in 2013. He could be one of the top players available when free agency opens in October, and the veteran has proven he's worthy of a considerable raise after leading the Blues to a Stanley Cup last year and following that up with 52 points in 70 regular-season games in 2019-20.
With so much uncertainty over the past few months, Pietrangelo said he and general manager Doug Armstrong didn't hold any negotiations.
"It's kind of a tough question to answer right now," Pietrangelo said. "There's wasn't a whole lot going on. There's a whole lot of questions regarding everything moving forward, a lot of things that both sides were kind of sitting down waiting to see what was going to happen before any discussions.
"Quiet, but we're worrying about the playoffs right now. We'll move forward and see what happens here."
Armstrong was also asked about Pietrangelo's situation, but he didn't offer much.
"We know what the (NHL salary) cap is ($81.5 million for next season)," Armstrong said. "And we'll make decisions based on that."
As part of the NHL and NHLPA's recently ratified CBA extension, the two sides settled on a flat salary cap until hockey-related revenue can reach its previous projections.
With no cap increase, it'll be challenging for Armstrong and the Blues to fit Pietrangelo's new deal into their plans. St. Louis holds just over $2 million in cap space for next season, according to Cap Friendly, and the team also needs to sign RFA blue-liner Vince Dunn.
Boston Bruins defenseman Torey Krug doesn't know where he'll play beyond this season but understands he may have to consider finding a new team.
"I don't really know what's going to happen," Krug said, according to The Athletic's Fluto Shinzawa. "I'm just trying to take it day by day and worry about the playoffs right now. I'll have to probably prepare for free agency. Then we'll see what happens there. In terms of what's going on with the Bruins and everything else, that's probably a question for someone else."
The 29-year-old would be among the best defensemen available if he does hit unrestricted free agency at the conclusion of the season.
Krug, who has spent his entire career with the Bruins, added that his mindset is different now to when he signed his last contract in 2016.
"My priorities have changed quite a bit," Krug said. "To be a husband and to be a father, it's quite a different change in where your priorities lie. You have to think about schools. You have to think about quality of life. Living in certain climates, things like that. They're all something you take into consideration. We'll see.
"I think at the end of the day, competing and being part of a core leadership group have all been important to me, trying to build something and be part of something special. You always want to do that. There's a lot of things that go into it."
Krug's chances of signing a lucrative contract in Boston may have been impacted by the recently ratified CBA, which will keep the salary cap at $81.5 million for the foreseeable future. The Bruins' have just under $18 million in projected cap space for next season with only a few players needing new deals, but key players like David Pastrnak, Charlie McAvoy, and Brandon Carlo will also need new contracts over the next three years.
The dynamic Krug has long been one of the NHL's best offensive defensemen. Since 2013, he ranks seventh in league scoring among blue-liners with 335 points. He amassed nine goals and 49 points in 61 games this season.
Vancouver Canucks general manager Jim Benning denied a report that circulated over the weekend indicating the club was exploring trading forward Brock Boeser.
"I have no intention of trading Brock Boeser. I haven't had one conversation about that, so I don't know where this stuff comes from," Benning said Monday as the club officially opened training camp.
Boeser fielded a question on the rumor as well.
"I had a chat with Jim and he told me he hasn't discussed trading me with anyone. I felt like that was very unnecessary by the media, especially the timing of it," he said.
Boeser, 23, is in the first season of a three-year, $17.625-million contract he signed last summer. He's battled injuries in each season of his professional career and managed to post 45 points in 57 games in 2019-20.
The Canucks open their qualifying-round series versus the Minnesota Wild on Aug. 2.
The team has already sent new-look jerseys and logo mockups to the NHL for approval, a source told Salvian. The logo is reportedly nearly identical to the one the Senators used from 1997-2007, a two-dimensional design featuring a centurion in profile.
The mockup for the team's new home jersey is black with two red bands on the arms, while the away jersey mockup is white with red bands on the arms and black forearms, Salvian reports.
Ottawa will reportedly also introduce a new third jersey, but details of its appearance haven't been confirmed.
The Senators have struggled to fill the stands in the last few seasons and are poised to enter a new era with a ton of young talent in the organization. Ottawa also holds nine picks in the first three rounds of the upcoming 2020 NHL Draft, including the third and fifth overall selections.
The NHL recorded 43 positive COVID-19 tests during the second phase of its return-to-play plan, the league announced Monday.
Over 600 players voluntarily reported to team facilities since June 8 and 4,932 tests were administered. Of those 600 players, 30 returned positive tests.
The league is also aware of 13 players who tested positive while not reporting during Phase 2.
Seven players who were taking part in Phase 2 tested positive during the last week, while one player who didn't report tested positive.
All players who tested positive have self-isolated and followed proper safety protocols. The NHL will continue to test players and provide weekly updates after Phase 3 kicked off on Monday morning.
