Sharks Acquire Yaroslav Askarov From Predators

Sharks Acquire Yaroslav Askarov From Predators

Yaroslav Askarov recently showed displeasure with his role for the Nashville Predators and requested a trade. A week later, Barry Trotz fulfilled his request.

The top prospect netminder was sent to the San Jose Sharks Friday, as Mike Grier parted ways with some of the assets they picked up in the Timo Meier deal before the deadline. Check out the full details below:

Drafted No. 11 overall in the 2020 draft, Askarov dominated the AHL last year for Milwaukee. In three games of NHL service over the last two seasons, he put up a 2.58 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage. The Russian clearly believes he is ready to compete in the big show and will have no shortage of opportunities for gametime with the Sharks.

To help Mike Grier and company, they agreed to a two-year, $4 million deal that starts in 2025. They will now have three years of affordable goaltending with sky-high potential. After drafting Macklin Celebrini first overall and BC phenom Will Smith signing an entry-level contract, there’s a chance the rebuild in San Jose takes a baby step forward after some seriously bad years.

However, Grier now has to manage the farm rather than just collect assets and pieces. It’s definitely not a bad piece to buy but in a few years might be an overpay if they don’t develop.

Can Barry Cook?

Everyone knows the Preds were the most active team in free agency this summer. There was also no place for Askarov after they gave Juuse Saros a big-time deal. Barry Trotz has manufactured a contending window out of seemingly nothing.

Following this deal, Nashville now has three first-round picks in the 2025 draft. Even with all of the retained salary on the books they have $2.27 million in cap space. Long story short, unless the wheels fall off, watch out for this team ahead of the trade deadline. They have pushed their chips to the table but it’s not a terrible strategy considering how top-heavy the Western Conference currently is.

On face value, this is a deal that makes sense for both sides. Even though the Preds missed out on potentially even more value, they got back good value for a guy some consider the next-star Russian goalie to take the NHL by storm. Meanwhile, the Sharks took a pretty big swing on a position that needs to be figured out for the long term.

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