Yegor Sharangovich avoided this collision, passing up an opportunity to finish a check in the neutral zone.
He wasn’t able to avoid the spotlight.
Sharangovich was a hot topic on Saturday’s post-game show on Hockey Night in Canada, and that’s not a good thing for the Calgary Flames forward.
After the Flames were throttled 6-1 by the Vegas Golden Knights, their fifth consecutive loss, tell-it-like-it-is analyst Kevin Bieksa hammered Sharangovich with a brutally honest assessment, saying he was “disgracing the NHL” with his effort on a third-period sequence at T-Mobile Arena.
“The concern is if you’re losing games and guys are not giving it their all,” said Bieksa, who logged 800-and-some appearances on big-league blue-lines and is now a star of the Sportsnet panel. “That’s what I would be worried about — the culture of the team. It’s one thing to lose, but it’s the way you lose. This is a 6-1 game and I’m going to pick on Sharangovich. Watch this effort right here … ”
The clip rolls.
Golden Knights centre William Karlsson has just fired a dump-in from centre ice.
Sharangovich is positioned to drop his shoulder and lay a lick on Karlsson, but the only thing he hits is the brakes. As he comes to a stop, he gives his opponent a light shove, then continues on to the bench for a line change.
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“I think he apologized. I literally think he apologized for almost running into Karlsson there,” Bieksa said. “I would absolutely lose my mind on the bench if I saw that. And I don’t even know if the coaches saw that, because there is so much going on, but you watch that on the video, that’s a culture thing for me. So I would show that clip at practice and I would say, ‘Where are my guys that care? Where are my guys that care about losing?’ I’ll play (Ryan) Lomberg, I’ll double-shift Lomberg the rest of the game, if that’s the way guys are going to compete.
“Play the guys that care. If you’re going to get an effort like that from a guy, get rid of him, you know what I mean? You’re disgracing the NHL with an effort like that. Down 6-1, be a little mad. As Brian Burke used to say, ‘Give a guy a dirty look.’ Like, hate to lose. I hate to lose more than I like to win, and that guy doesn’t hate to lose. I wouldn’t want a guy like that.
“I’m picking on one thing. I don’t know how long his shift was — I don’t really care. But that’s a pretty glaring problem for me, if I’m anyone on that team.”
This is not a first-of-its-kind critique of Sharangovich.
As he struggled through last season, Flames head coach Ryan Huska commented multiple times that ’Sharky’ is at his best when his engagement and competitiveness levels are cranked.
Mattias Ekholm #14 of the Edmonton Oilers defends against Yegor Sharangovich #17 of the Calgary Flames during the first period at Rogers Place on Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2025, in Edmonton, Canada.
The biggest difference now is that his five-year, US$28.75 contract extension has kicked in. Only four of his Flames teammates — Jonathan Huberdeau, Nazem Kadri, Matt Coronato and MacKenzie Weegar — are on a higher cap hit for the 2025-26 campaign.
Sharangovich, who at 27 is supposed to be one of Calgary’s long-term building blocks, has registered zero goals, one assist and a minus-3 rating in six games so far this season. He’s been credited with two hits.
One of the Flames’ most dangerous shooters, as evidenced by his 31-goal outburst in 2023-24, he did ring a puck off the post in Vegas.
However, he was also guilty of a soft defensive play on the Golden Knights’ third tally, failing to pick up his man before Mark Stone buried his first of the evening.
For Bieksa, that apparently wasn’t as glaring as that coulda-been collision with Karlsson, a chance to prove a point in the late stages of a lopsided game.
“You have a young nucleus,” Bieksa said of the Flames, off to a 1-5-0 start as they prepare for Monday’s matchup with the Winnipeg Jets at the Saddledome. “You need to have guys around them that are pros, are going to play hard right to the buzzer — like a guy like Lomberg.
“If you’re not going to win, you better do it the right way. You better do it with compete and a good culture.”