Askarov Is No Cliché: ‘Just trying to be me’ (+)

Sports cliché, if you’re an athlete, you shouldn’t smile after a loss.

Yaroslav Askarov is no cliché.

Askarov’s post-game interviews this season, win or lose, have been surprising.

“What’s up, everybody!” he greeted reporters cheerfully on Zoom, after a 3-2 OT loss at the St. Louis Blues on Nov. 21. It was the top prospect’s San Jose Sharks debut, and he was a big reason why his team got a point.

But he was also a big reason for the loss. He gave up a goal on his first shot as a Sharks goalie because of a stickhandling gaffe.

Not the start Askarov was hoping for in his Sharks’ debut pic.twitter.com/CL10sdm98T

— Jesse Granger (@JesseGranger_) November 22, 2024

“The first 11 seconds, this was probably the best play in my season so far,” he joked afterwards.

“This was just a good play by me,” he repeated later. “But moving on. Life is going on.”

It’s a relentless positivity, that reminds me a little of Joe Thornton.

Recently, I asked Askarov about his seemingly always sunny outlook, if he’s ever been criticized for it by old school hockey people, and his brief-but-real connection with recently-traded goalie Mackenzie Blackwood.