Islanders’ Goaltending Depth A Major Offseason Question For Mathieu Darche
The Islanders face major questions behind Ilya Sorokin as Mathieu Darche evaluates a thin goalie market, Semyon Varlamov’s health, and potential backup options.
One of the items on Mathieu Darche’s summer to-do list is to address the New York Islanders’ goaltending depth.
Vezina finalist Ilya Sorokin is the only sure thing heading into the summer, with backup David Rittich a pending unrestricted free agent, while Semyon Varlamov is working his way back from two knee replacements.
Veteran goaltender Marcus Hogberg, who was a pending unrestricted free agent serving as the club’s No. 3 netminder, has elected to return to Sweden, signing a three-year deal with Linköping HC.
Despite trading away goaltender prospect Marcus Gidlof (2024, Rd. 5) in the Brayden Schenn deal with the St. Louis Blues, the Islanders still hold the rights to Dmitri Gamzin (2024, Rd. 2), who is arguably the best goaltender in the KHL (22-10-6, 1.49 GAA, .938 SV%, 8 SO).
However, as we saw with Sorokin many moons ago, Gamzin decided to sign a three-year extension to remain with CSKA Moscow, Sorokin’s former team. It’s a move that makes sense for the young goaltender, given that there’s no starting opportunity with the Islanders right now. Whether it’s the right answer or not, it sounds like he doesn’t have much interest in being a backup.
I was told that toward the end of the season, the Islanders and Rittich’s camp had preliminary contract discussions, but have yet to hear more, leaving his future with the organization a bit in doubt, especially with the lack of trust the Islanders showed in the veteran backstop late in the season.