Yaroslav Askarov's early save of the year is huge for Sharks' big picture

That is a sensational, desperation save, and it was easily his biggest highlight of the night.

But here's why this matters for the Sharks — they need a goalie to step up, and they need somebody to help keep opposing teams off the scoreboard.

San Jose has assembled one of the best collections of young forward talent in the league, led by third-year superstar Macklin Celebrini. While there are still some depth concerns at forward, the young core of Celebrini, Will Smith, Michael Misa and Ivar Stenberg is a promising foundation and could give San Jose a dynamic core to build around for the next decade.

But it takes more than a couple of talented forwards to build a contender, and San Jose is still a ways off from that.

One of its biggest issues is an inability to keep pucks out of its own net. 

Part of that comes from a defense that is short on impact talent, and part of it comes from goaltending. Askarov was at one time one of the best goalie prospects in the NHL but has gone through some early growing pains in his career. While that is to be expected for a young goalie, it definitely limited their progress a year ago.

He was one of the least productive starting goalies in the league a year ago, finishing the 2025-26 season at minus-18.7 goals saved above expected. 

He was only plus-1.7 goals saved above expected two years ago in a limited 13-game sampling.

Through the first month of the 2026-27 season, he was again deep into the negative numbers. But after Thursday's game, where he saved 3.6 goals above expected, he is getting back to level footing and starting to show some of the promise that the Sharks have been waiting for.

If he can keep building on that, he has a chance to become another cornerstone building block for a young, improving team. He would also be a cornerstone building block at one of the sport's most important, and game-changing positions. 

All expected goals numbers via MoneyPuck.