10 Things to Watch: Yaroslav Askarov

This is our series 10 things to watch in the upcoming Sharks season. And this time around, we’ll focus on fan favorite goalie Yarislav Vascarov. It was late August last year when the Sharks traded with Nashville for ASI and then signed him to a 2-year contract extension, which begins this season. Besides being a good player and coming in with a lot of accolades, what makes him different seems to be his personality. Asky juggles, he smiles, he celebrates, he plays the puck a lot more than most are expecting, and he has fun. And it’s not to stereotype the entire goalie community, but Ascarov just seems different. And maybe something we haven’t seen here in San Jose since the days of Yeni Debbakov. In the regular season last year, Yaruslav had 12 starts with the Sharks between November through January. A 46-2 record, a 310 goals against, and an 896 save percentage. He was injured for much of the spring, then recovered in time to help the Barracuda advance to round two of their Calder Cup playoffs. In 22 Cuda games last season, Asi had a 923 save percentage and a 245 goals against average. and then he turned it up in those playoffs, posting a 935 save percentage and a 168 goals against in six tilts. So, spinning it forward to this season, here’s the excitement and the questions surrounding Ascarov. Can it be a full NHL season for him from start to finish? What’s the split of games he’ll get with Nadulkovich? And how will the second season in teal go after we saw a lot of encouraging signs last year? It certainly should help any Sharks goalie that the team has bolstered up defensively with the likes of Dmitri Orlov, Nick Ley, and John Clingberg all signing as free agents. It’s also reassuring to know that this Sharks rebuild includes a goalie as part of the process. A lot of teams seemingly stock up on skaters, then try to find somebody for the crease after the fact. But in this case, ASI gets to emerge simultaneously with the young core of sharks, including the likes of Smith, Celibbrini, Ecklund, Dickinson, and Misa.

Brodie Brazil highlights goaltender Yaroslav Askarov in the latest 10 Thing to Watch for this upcoming Sharks season.

3 comments

  2. Lots of commentary out there that the Sharks are not going to be significantly better this season. While I think huge parts of whether that is the case or not rests on how successful young guys like Mack and Smitty can be in year two.. I'm going to say Askarov is a dark horse candidate to keep this team in the playoff hunt if he can stay healthy. A hot goaltender can be a very dangerous thing in this league even with all the elite star power. If players like Askarov and Dickinson enter camp with greater readiness than anticipated.. we could be looking at big boosts in their respected positions. Want examples of how big an impact players in said positions can make? Look no further than this past seasons Calder winner in Lane Hutson, and Calder finalist in Dustin Wolf.

Leave a Reply