Yaroslav Askarov might become the most entertaining goalie in hockey

It was Garbage Time on Daily Faceoff Live, so Steven Ellis took the time to talk about how great Yaroslav Askarov is, and how great he’s going to be in the NHL.

Steven Ellis: So I’ve watched Yaroslav Askarov play basically from the time he was about 16, in 2017/2018. I was at the Toronto Marlies/Milwaukee Admirals game, and that was a game that I circled to see Askarov, and it was nice to also see Joakim Kemell, who scored the only regulation goal for Milwaukee. But Askarov has just got to be one of the most fun goalies I’ve watched in a long time. I know Mike McKenna was very happy that he got very aggressive with this poke check here. It’s too bad we don’t have the other clips of the other saves, because he made a couple other fantastic saves in the shootout.

Yaroslav Askarov with a poke check straight out of NHL 23 😂 pic.twitter.com/If4HTiDz4p

— Gino Hard (@GinoHard_) March 23, 2023

This is a guy that is a blast to watch. In one of the very first plays of that game, he skated out to the blueline to play the puck. No reason to, their defenseman was coming, but he’s just a guy who likes to be the center of attention, loves to have the puck. He got into a fight recently. Everything he’s done this year has been fun to watch. His stats are good, he’s already seen some NHL time, and he’s becoming this goalie that just from an entertainment perspective, Jordan Binnington’s very entertaining, but this is a guy that is like watching Dominik Hasek to a point, the way he’s diving for saves, he’s very dramatic in the net, but it works for him. He’s got the size, he’s got everything.

I’m very confident that Askarov is going to win a Vezina trophy, and I could say maybe even one or two. He’s going to be going up against some incredible goalies, a couple of other good Russian goalies like Vasilevskiy, Shesterkin, and Sorokin. I think this is a fantastic time for high-end goalies, but he’s going to be a huge part of that, and it’s just fun.

If you get a chance to watch him in person, he’s just entertaining. Like, multiple times he went to play the puck, and you thought “Why are you doing this?” He was dropping his stick, dancing all over the place, rolling, doing pad stacks. If you like old-school goaltending, he brings it, and he’s going to be a star one day.

Matt Larkin: For sure, and another one coming out of that Russian goaltending factory. The question for me is when is he going to be a star, because he’s blocked in Nashville. You have Juuse Saros still under contract, and Kevin Lankinen just signed an extension too, so I’m wondering when we’ll see Askarov break through. He has to find the spot on their roster, but I don’t doubt his ability.

And I love the idea of him being a throwback. You look at the top goaltenders in the league today, whether it’s Connor Hellebuyck, Jake Oettinger, Sorokin, Shesterkin, Vasilevskiy, these guys are all calm. They have that icy-nerved mentality, and Askarov to me seems like a throwback to Patrick Roy, to Billy Smith, to Ed Belfour, to Dominik Hasek. There was an era in the 80’s and 90’s when you were seeing goalies that could bring some fire. Of course, Ron Hextall as well. So if we could get the goalie with the big personality becoming a thing in the NHL again, that would be very exciting.

And I’m curious, if you’re looking for the arrival date for Askarov because of what I’m saying, when do you think we’re going to see him establish himself as a regular NHLer.

Steven Ellis: So this year was about getting him the reps, because he struggled to play even 20 games for about a three year span, so the fact that he’s been as good as he has with this workload is good. Obviously going up there and signing Lankinen definitely changes things a little bit there, but I think it’s something where Lankinen can be an underrated trade deadline deal, especially if the Predators are not in a playoff spot, you can trade him to a team and see what happens there, that contract’s really easy to move.

But I think you still have Saros, you don’t need Askarov sitting on the bench all that time, so you can give him some time. I wouldn’t mind at least for the first half of next year he’s in the AHL, and then make that move up. But I love what I see, I feel like he could be the backup next year and I wouldn’t be concerned in terms of how well he performed, but they don’t need him right now.

You can watch the full episode here…