SAN JOSE – The San Jose Sharks have signed an emergency backup goalie for the 2026-27 season and made some notable additions to the organization and the hockey operations department.
Nathan Airey, 23, will be the Sharks’ EBUG this season after spending the last three years at the University of Minnesota, where he played 35 games from 2023 to 2026 and had a combined record of 16-11-3. He had entered the transfer portal after his junior season, when he went 3-7-1 with an .888 save percentage.
The Sharks also named Eric Pinsky assistant video coach, replacing Cody Ward, and Josh Woodard as the new head equipment manager, a role previously held for 32 years by the now-retired Mike Aldrich.
The Sharks have also added Cameron Burt and Tyler Holske as amateur scouts, and Scott Greenberg as the team’s head physical therapist.
The EBUG role was previously filled by a local goalie, usually with some college or professional experience, in each NHL city who could play if either team suffered multiple injuries or illnesses.
But as part of the new collective bargaining agreement between the league and the NHL Players’ Association, teams now must employ a full-time, traveling replacement in case their regular goalies become unavailable to play. Each EBUG across the NHL will wear No. 00.
The Sharks had to sign EBUGs to amateur tryouts before two road games last season after rookie netminder Yaroslav Askarov became unavailable.
The first was before the Sharks played the Philadelphia Flyers on Dec. 9 when they signed Colgate University goalie Justin Kowalkoski to an ATO to back up Alex Nedeljkovic after Askarov became ill. Askarov also sustained a lower body injury before a March 12 game against the Boston Bruins, forcing the Sharks to bring in Kyle Chauvette, a former Union College goalie.
Neither EBUG played as the Sharks lost to the Flyers but beat the Bruins.
The Sharks hired from within to fill other roles.
Pinsky, a San Jose native now in his fifth year in the organization, had been the video coach and manager of hockey operations for the Barracuda, the Sharks’ AHL affiliate. Woodard had been the Barracuda’s head equipment manager last season following two years as an assistant.
Greenberg, per the Sharks, will primarily work with Mike Potenza, director of high performance, and the medical staff “on all physical therapy services and rehabilitation of Sharks players.”
Burt and Holske join the Sharks’ amateur scouting staff that includes North American scouts Pat Funk (Minnesota), Jaren Burke (Ontario), Ryan Russell (Western Canada) and Neil McKenney (OHL).
Burt, 39, is from Detroit and had a professional career as a defenseman in the AHL, ECHL and Europe. Per the Sharks, this is his first role in a pro hockey team’s front office, as he previously served as a player development coach/mentor for various junior hockey teams in the Total Package Hockey Academy.
Holske, 35, is from Attleboro, Mass. A goalie, Holske played four seasons at Southern New Hampshire University from 2010 to 2014 before playing two seasons professionally in Europe. He currently works as the GM and head coach of the South Shore Kings of the United States Premier Hockey League (USPHL) in the National Collegiate Development Conference (NCDC).