{"id":543681,"date":"2026-03-25T04:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T04:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/543681\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T04:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T04:41:13","slug":"san-jose-sharks-yaroslav-askarov-discusses-trade-from-nashville-predators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/543681\/","title":{"rendered":"San Jose Sharks’ Yaroslav Askarov discusses trade from Nashville Predators"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN JOSE \u2013 San Jose Sharks goalie Yaroslav Askarov<\/a> reached the conclusion during the 2024 offseason that he didn\u2019t have much of a future<\/a> with the Nashville Predators \u2014 at least not as their No. 1 netminder.<\/p>\n

After the Predators gave Juuse Saros a long-term extension<\/a> and signed veteran Scott Wedgewood to a two-year deal, Askarov\u2019s camp requested a trade, saying the then-22-year-old would not report<\/a> to the Predators\u2019 top minor league affiliate in Milwaukee if he was sent back to the AHL.<\/p>\n

Asked Monday about waiting for a trade, Askarov said, \u201cIt wasn\u2019t easy for sure \u2026 but there\u2019s not much you can do. You just practice, you\u2019re waiting. That was during the summer, long time. But now, everything\u2019s good.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Predators on July 1, 2024, signed Saros to an eight-year, $61.92 million contract extension, solidifying his status as the team\u2019s franchise goalie. That same day, Nashville also signed Wedgewood<\/a>, who had been a full-time NHL goalie for the previous four seasons at that point, to a two-year, $3 million deal to back up Saros.<\/p>\n

That left Askarov, who was drafted 11th overall<\/a> by Nashville in 2020, wondering about his future in the Predators organization. He had already completed two full seasons with Nashville\u2019s AHL affiliate in Milwaukee at that point and didn\u2019t want to continue to be blocked out from competing for an NHL job.<\/p>\n

In his final season in Milwaukee in 2023-24, Askarov was 30-13-1 with a .911 save percentage and six shutouts.<\/p>\n

Nashville general manager Barry Trotz said he wanted Askarov<\/a> to work with new director of goaltending, Mitch Korn, to refine his game while gaining more professional experience. Still, Askarov\u2019s representative, Dan Milstein, formally requested a trade,<\/a> saying the goalie prospect would not report to Milwaukee <\/a>if he remained Predators property.<\/p>\n

The Russian goalie was then sent to the Sharks<\/a> in August 2024, along with a 2025 third-round draft pick, for prospect center David Edstrom, goalie Magnus Chrona, and a 2025 first-round pick originally owned by the Vegas Golden Knights.<\/p>\n

The Sharks then signed Askarov, who turns 24 in June, to a two-year, $4 million extension, which began this season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was waiting,\u201d Askarov said Monday of the trade. \u201cAfter the second season in Milwaukee, I was waiting for that trade for, like, a long time, to be honest. So that\u2019s how it goes, and now I\u2019m happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the Predators still have Saros, who entered Tuesday with a record of 25-19-7 and a .895 save percentage, Wedgewood, five months after he signed in Nashville, was traded to the Colorado Avalanche<\/a> for goalie Justus Annunen, who is 8-9-2 with an .898 save percentage for the Predators this season. Chrona and Edstrom remain in Milwaukee.<\/p>\n

Askarov, coming off a lower-body injury he sustained two weeks ago, will back up Alex Nedeljkovic on Tuesday when the Sharks face the Predators in their biggest game of the season to date. Askarov is hoping to be available to start later in the crucial road trip, which continues with games against the St. Louis Blues on Thursday and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Askarov, in his first full NHL season, enters this week with a 19-17-3 record and a .886 save percentage. He was brilliant in November, going 8-2-0 with a .944 save percentage in 10 games, but has been inconsistent since.<\/p>\n

In his last 20 games, Askarov\u2019s goals saved above expected per 60 mark of -0.592, per Moneypuck.com,<\/a> ranked 60th out of 62 goalies who have played at least 20 games this season.<\/p>\n

Askarov didn\u2019t want to evaluate his season thus far with three weeks left, but if the Sharks have any chance of making the playoffs, he has to play a big role. San Jose entered Tuesday with 14 games remaining and was five points back of the Predators for the second wild card spot, and seven points back of the Edmonton Oilers for third place in the Pacific Division.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very important time,\u201d Askarov said. \u201cBut at the same point, you don\u2019t have to be super overthinking (it), because it\u2019s still the same game. It\u2019s still the same rules. Everybody knows how important it is, and just everybody\u2019s going to do their best. It\u2019s that time of the year, and that\u2019s the best time of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

NOTABLE<\/p>\n

Winger Igor Chernyshov will return to the Sharks\u2019 lineup Tuesday after missing the previous four games with a head injury sustained in the team\u2019s game against the Montreal Canadiens on March 14.<\/p>\n

Chernyshov, 20, will start the game on the Sharks\u2019 top line alongside the team\u2019s two leading scorers, Macklin Celebrini and Will Smith. Chernyshov mostly played with Celebrini in his first NHL opportunity earlier this season, collecting 11 points in 15 games from Dec. 16 to Jan. 19.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN JOSE \u2013 San Jose Sharks goalie Yaroslav Askarov reached the conclusion during the 2024 offseason that he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":543682,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[66],"tags":[158775,242884,4826,385,835,99,6538],"class_list":{"0":"post-543681","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-barry-trotz","9":"tag-juuse-saros","10":"tag-nashville-predators","11":"tag-nhl","12":"tag-san-jose-sharks","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-yaroslav-askarov"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=543681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/543681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/543682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=543681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=543681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=543681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}