What’s Askarov’s Ceiling? For Sharks, What’s Fair Trade Offer? (+)

The San Jose Sharks need a top goaltending prospect, why not acquire maybe the best?

2020 11th-overall pick Yaroslav Askarov is ready for his close-up, but the Nashville Predators have blocked his path to stardom, signing homegrown perennial Vezina Trophy candidate Juuse Saros to an eight-year, $61.92 million extension on Jul. 1.

The Preds also inked Scott Wedgewood to a two-year, $3 million pact that day, to back up Saros.

Where does that leave 22-year-old Askarov, who’s enjoyed a 56-29-6 record and .911 Save % with the AHL Milwaukee Admirals over the last two seasons?

The 6-foot-4 Russian has also shown well in limited NHL action, three games over parts of two seasons.

Askarov is signed for one more year of his entry-level contract, $925K. He is waiver-exempt for 2024-25, so there’s no big hurry for Nashville to move him.

So should the San Jose Sharks trade for Askarov?

I spoke with multiple league sources, executives, scouts, and more, none with San Jose or Nashville, to get industry-wide sense of Askarov’s ceiling, where he’d go in a 2020 Re-Draft, what the Sharks should offer for him, and historical trade comps for the potential star netminder.