Sorokin will be ready for Islanders’ season opener, GM says

ELMONT, New York — Ilya Sorokin will be ready for the start of the regular season, New York Islanders general manager Lou Lamoriello said Sunday.

The 29-year-old goalkeeper underwent back surgery after suffering an injury during off-season training.

Semyon Varlamov could start the Islanders’ opener against the Utah Hockey Club at UBS Arena on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET; Utah16, MSGSN).

“We’ll see how it goes tomorrow after today and the next day and the day after that,” Islanders coach Patrick Roy said of Sorokin. “We will make our decisions based on that.”

Sorokin was only scheduled to miss the first few days of camp, according to Lamoriello, but the schedule changed. He missed an entire week of training camp, returned to practice on October 3, and did not appear in any of the six preseason games.

“When he’s ready, he’s ready,” Lamoriello said. “I think the (recovery) process has gone exactly as we hoped. And if you want to say we extended it for a while, we did what we had to do to make sure that he was totally 100 percent.”

Sorokin has not played since Game 3 of the Eastern Conference First Round on April 25, when he was pulled after allowing three goals on 14 shots in a 3-2 loss to the Hurricanes of Carolina. New York lost the best-of-7 series in five games.

“I can’t control (missing the preseason). I can’t change anything,” Sorokin said, “so I’m working without having preseason games. I’m trying to do a lot of mental work, taking advantage of this moment to work on my (mental game).

“You try to find your timing. You can find your timing in practice. You don’t need a game to do that. It’s good that I face a lot of shots. Sometimes I surrender Whether I have to do a move earlier or later, it’s all about timing, but the more I practice, the better I feel.”