Islanders' Ilya Sorokin finally breaks silence on ex-teammate Noah Dobson's $76M Canadiens signing - "The team couldn’t keep both"

New York Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin has spoken about Noah Dobson’s trade to the Montreal Canadiens. The Islanders got forward Emil Heineman and two first-round picks in the trade for Dobson. They used those picks to draft Victor Eklund and Kashawn Aitcheson.

Sorokin shared his thoughts in a recent interview with Sergey Demidov of RG.org. He said he was happy about Alexander Romanov’s new contract with the Islanders. The eight-year deal is worth $50 million with an AAV of $6.25 million.

“I’m really happy for Sasha (Alexander Romanov) and his family. He’s a great guy and a great player,” Sorokin said about Romanov's signing. (translated from Russian by Google). “...honestly, it wasn’t a surprise—it’s something he earned with his hard work.”

However, Ilya Sorokin admitted he was surprised when the team traded Noah Dobson. He said it was a tough decision, but the salary cap made it necessary. Currently, the Islanders have a projected cap space of $ 3.875 million.

“That one surprised me, but realistically, the team couldn’t keep both Romanov and Dobson," Sorokin said. "The salary cap forces tough decisions—it’s business. Dobson got a good deal in Montreal, and I wish him nothing but success.”

Sorokin said Dobson deserved the good deal that he received.

Dobson signed an eight-year contract worth $76 million with the Montreal Canadiens. Now, he will be earning an average of $9,500,000 per season in annual salary. After his trade from Long Island, Dobson said he wanted to stay, but they could not agree on a deal.

“Conversations started... to work on finding a deal...," Dobson said, via NHL.com. "but (we were) unable to find any common ground. ... felt it would be best to go in different directions and (and to) look for a trade."

Dobson is now looking forward to starting anew with Montreal.

Ilya Sorokin also talked about rumors around him

Meanwhile, Ilya Sorokin's name was also seen in trade rumors, which he denied completely. He said he was not surprised by the talk.

"What did surprise me, though, was how seriously people (in the NHL community) took them," Sorokin said to RG.org. "Even though everyone knows I have a no-trade clause. But overall—let them talk."

Ilya Sorokin is signed on an eight-year, $66 million contract through 2032. It includes a full no-movement clause until 2028, followed by a 16-team no-trade list for four years. So, the likelihood of him getting traded is pretty slim right now.

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Edited by Vaishnavi Iyer