According to Elliotte Friedman, the San Jose Sharks are acquiring Yaroslav Askarov from the Nashville Predators in a significant move to bolster their young core.
Currently featuring MacKenzie Blackwood and Vitek Vanecek in nets, San Jose was on the market for a blue chip prospect between the pipes and acquired just that from Nashville.
Heading to Nashville is forward David Edstrom, a 2025 conditional 1st round pick (via Vegas), and goaltender Magnus Chrona. Coming back to the west coast is Askarov, a 2025 3rd round pick (via Colorado), and forward Nolan Burke.
After finishing at the bottom of the standings for the past several seasons, the Sharks finally saw the lottery balls bounce their way as they were able to scoop up forward Macklin Celebrini 1st overall in this year’s NHL Entry Draft. That, coupled with Will Smith being set to join the lineup, and the emergence of Swedish winger William Eklund, and suddenly things are starting to look up in the Bay Area.
However questions lingered about who would shoulder the bulk of the load between the pipes in 2024-25. Enter, Askarov.
The highly touted Russian net minder was selected 11th overall in the 2020 draft by Nashville. At one point deemed a “can’t miss prospect” by scouts, Askarov became expendable after the Predators pushed their chips into the middle this season by bringing in several veterans, and committing to Juuse Saros in goal for a championship push.
Not wanting to linger in the minor leagues any longer, Askarov’s camp made it known that the Osmk native would welcome a change of scenery if he wasn’t going to factor into the Predators NHL plans.
For San Jose, they’ve likely jumpstarted their rebuild in a significant way, adding a potential franchise goaltender who could become the next Evgeni Nabokov for the club.
Photo: Jenn G. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.