Sharks’ Vitek Vanecek out week-to-week with upper-body injury

The San Jose Sharks announced that goaltender Vitek Vanecek is out week-to-week with an upper-body injury.

Vanecek was hit in the head by an errant puck on the bench during Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to the Winnipeg Jets.

The 28-year-old has a 3-8-1 record and a 3.84 goals against average and .885 save percentage.

San Jose acquired Vanecek and the Devils’ 2025 seventh-round pick during the 2023-24 trade deadline in exchange for Kaapo Kahkonen.

Vanecek was a former second-round pick of the Washington Capitals in the 2014 NHL Draft, and spent two seasons with the Capitals after making his NHL debut in the 2020-21 season when Henrik Lundqvist was announced to be missing the season late in the offseason. In between those two seasons for the Caps, he was claimed by the Kraken in the expansion draft, although the Capitals re-acquired him about a week later for a second-round pick. In the 2022 offseason, the Caps traded him to the Devils for picks where he spent the next two seasons before heading to California.

Meanwhile, San Jose has recalled Yaroslav Askarov from the Sharks’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate the San Jose Barracuda. The Russian netminder has a 1-0-1 record this season in the NHL.

Askarov was acquired from Nashville along with center Nolan Burke, and a 2025 third-round draft pick in exchange for center David Edstrom, goaltender Magnus Chrona and a 2025 first-round pick.

Askarov spent most of the 2023-24 campaign in the AHL with the Admirals, where he posted a 30-13-1 record, a .911% save percentage, and six shutouts, along with a 2-3-0 record and a .882% save percentage in five AHL playoff games. He also got into two games at the NHL level with Nashville, winning one game and getting a .943% save percentage. Askarov posted a 56-29-6 record and nine shutouts in 92 games played with the Admirals.