Sharks Sign Kyle Chauvette To Amateur Tryout

The Sharks have signed University of New Hampshire starter Kyle Chauvette to an amateur tryout, per Curtis Pashelka of the Bay Area News Group. He will serve as the emergency backup to Alex Nedeljkovic for tonight’s game against the Bruins. Yaroslav Askarov is unable to dress due to an undisclosed injury that became apparent at morning skate today. As Askarov wasn’t ruled out until this morning, San Jose didn’t have time to get an AHL recall coast-to-coast in time for tonight’s contest.

If an injury to Nedeljkovic forces Chauvette into action, it won’t be a miracle story like we’ve seen in the past with EBUGs like David Ayres and Scott Foster. Chauvette just wrapped up his senior season of college hockey yesterday, when UNH’s season ended in the first round of the Hockey East tournament against Northeastern. The 24-year-old transferred to his hometown school last summer after spending the first three seasons of his NCAA career at Union College, where he was named an ECAC Third Team All-Star in 2024-25.

Still, since Chauvette doesn’t have any professional experience, he’s eligible to dress for San Jose as an EBUG. The 6’1″, 190-lb netminder put up respectable numbers behind a New Hampshire squad that finished second-last in the conference, logging a .902 SV% and 2.63 GAA in 34 appearances with a 13-19-1 record and five shutouts. He appeared in all but one game for the Wildcats and should have multiple pro offers in the coming weeks with his NCAA career in the rearview.

The question for the Sharks, still in the thick of a wild-card race in the West, becomes how long they’ll be without Askarov. The 23-year-old has arrived as a full-time NHLer and, while he’s started 40 out of 62 games, the workload was likely going to shift more toward the veteran Nedeljkovic down the stretch anyway.

The 2020 first-round pick has had his moments this season and has received enough goal support to register a 19-17-3 record, but his .886 SV% and 3.56 GAA are some of the worst marks in the league among starters. His -11.2 goals saved above expected this season are eighth-worst in the league, per MoneyPuck.

Compared to Nedeljkovic’s .900 SV%, 2.83 GAA, and 0.5 GSAx in 22 starts and five relief appearances, Askarov was in danger of losing out on some starts with San Jose in a tight race with the Kings, Kraken, and Predators for the second wild-card slot in the West – the Mammoth are virtually locked into the first wild-card slot at this rate with an 81% likelihood of ending up there. Askarov’s recent play – he only has a .869 SV% since the beginning of February – may have begged the question of whether Nedeljkovic should be the Sharks’ Game 1 starter if they emerge from the field.

It’s also worth noting that those numbers from Nedeljkovic have come with him rarely making back-to-back starts – something he hasn’t done since Askarov was out with an illness in December. How will he perform in an increased workload if Askarov misses more than a couple of games?

It’s now where the Sharks’ acquisition of Laurent Brossoit from the Blackhawks in January could pay dividends. The 32-year-old hasn’t seen NHL action since the 2023-24 season due to various lower-body surgeries but has been excellent for both Rockford and San Jose in the AHL this season and is arguably the best veteran third-string option in the league. In 14 games since the trade, he has a .915 SV% and 2.48 GAA for the Barracuda with an 11-2-1 record.