G Yaroslav Askarov - SKA-Neva St.Petersburg, VHL (2020, 11th, NSH)

[Caser]

Yaroslav Askarov already at this point earned a reputation of the next big goalie thing out of Russia and it is easy to understand why: despite quite some rawness, he is very gifted naturally with size and reflexes and is extremely mobile. After a solid Hlinka Memorial tournament perdormance he has debuted in the MHL as the starter for SKA-Varyagi team and is looking fine there.

EP link: Yaroslav Askarov at eliteprospects.com

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[scoutman1]

This guy to me is going to be a 1st rounder in 2020, I was just starting a thread on him when I realized there was already one ...I love his size and reflexes, but he is very strong mentally to0...I think he is going to be a future star.

 

[scallionjj11]

This guy to me is going to be a 1st rounder in 2020, I was just starting a thread on him when I realized there was already one ...I love his size and reflexes, but he is very strong mentally to0...I think he is going to be a future star.

How many goalies do you see go in the first round anymore?

 

[scoutman1]

How many goalies do you see go in the first round anymore?

Not as many as there use to be im pretty sure we all know that...not sure your point...goalies still go 1st round and my opinion he has franchise ability...vasilivsky type talent imo

 

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Some highlights:

 

[OldScool]

How many goalies do you see go in the first round anymore?

Very rare that teams feel confident enough to pick a goalie in first round. That being said I have Askarov as a mid second round pick and 2nd or 3rd goalie off the board.

 

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[Pavel Buchnevich]

Dominating the WHC-17 after being really good against older players at the Hlinka. Looks like the next great goalie out of Russia. I think its too early to determine if he's Vasilevskiy level or closer to Samsonov level, but either way, he could be a first round pick in 2020.

 

[Kuz]

Dominating the WHC-17 after being really good against older players at the Hlinka. Looks like the next great goalie out of Russia. I think its too early to determine if he's Vasilevskiy level or closer to Samsonov level, but either way, he could be a first round pick in 2020.

Was Vasilevskiy and Samsonov looked at that differently? One was drafted 19th and the other 22nd. Samsonov played mostly KHL and a little MHL in his draft+1 while Vasi played mostly MHL and some KHL in draft+1. In draft+2 Samsonov had a 0.936 save percentage while Vasi had 0.923 in the KHL. The draft+3 Vasi went to Tampa and got 15 games and 26 in the AHL good numbers in both. Samsonov stayed another year with solid numbers in the KHL. So they had similar draft positions and quite similar numbers the first 3 years after the draft.

 

[Caser]

Was Vasilevskiy and Samsonov looked at that differently? One was drafted 19th and the other 22nd. Samsonov played mostly KHL and a little MHL in his draft+1 while Vasi played mostly MHL and some KHL in draft+1. In draft+2 Samsonov had a 0.936 save percentage while Vasi had 0.923 in the KHL. The draft+3 Vasi went to Tampa and got 15 games and 26 in the AHL good numbers in both. Samsonov stayed another year with solid numbers in the KHL. So they had similar draft positions and quite similar numbers the first 3 years after the draft.

Totally different calibers: Samsonov wasn't really that widely known at all before his draft year, just was considered as a talented young goalie, one of many. Vasilevskiy has been an acknowledged talent since he was like 15 and in his draft year he played in U20 WJC and did something like this:


Returning to Askarov, that's why he is getting the hype, as already at this age he is showing something really impressive for his age. Not on the level of Vasilevskiy, but still. With that being said, we can remember that not a long time ago, Maxim Zhukov was also very good at this age too, but so far it didn't result in something good.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Fans don’t talk about goalie prospects as generational in the same way they talk about forwards and defensemen as generational, but if you split it up into around ten year segments, Vasilevskiy was a generational goalie prospect. He was the best goalie prospect since Price. Askarov is 8 years after Vasilevskiy. It can be debated if he’s the most talented pre-draft since Vasilevskiy. Others like Demko, Shestyorkin, Samsonov, Hart, Oettinger, Knight have a claim towards that spot or maybe that player is in one of the drafts after Askarov. He’s also a 2020 draft pick, so there’s a a year and a half before his draft, but so far he’s putting himself in that conversation.

 

[Killerjas]

Inb4 Wallstedt and Askarov are gonna be one of the best goalies in the NHL.

In all serious, Askarov looks good, great stats. He is a big kid which also helps.

 

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[Pavel Buchnevich]

.945 at the WJAC as the second youngest player at the tournament.

 

[SI90]

 

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[Pavel Buchnevich]

He’s completely outplaying Knight today. Russia leads by four and has been worse.

I think this guy is a borderline generational goalie prospect. Best since Vasilevskiy.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

I'm anti "Russians moving to NA juniors", but I think Askarov should move after next season, unless he gets guarantees from SKA that he'll get regular playing time in the KHL no later than the 2020-21 season.

It ruins a lot of Russian players, but some players are too talented to be ruined by the change. Svechnikov and Kucherov are two good examples of that. Kucherov is also a good example of when it makes sense for an elite prospect who is not going to get playing time on a powerhouse team to move elsewhere.

I think Askarov's probably a little too good to be ruined by the move at an early age.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Very insightful interview. Athletes almost never provide the type of detail Askarov answered questions with. You can tell he has a very high hockey IQ. He also said that he's around 6'3 and 174 pounds now, which is less than EP lists him as.

«Равнялся на Куика, но так играть нельзя». У СКА растёт свой Василевский

 

[Caser]

I'm anti "Russians moving to NA juniors", but I think Askarov should move after next season, unless he gets guarantees from SKA that he'll get regular playing time in the KHL no later than the 2020-21 season.

It ruins a lot of Russian players, but some players are too talented to be ruined by the change. Svechnikov and Kucherov are two good examples of that. Kucherov is also a good example of when it makes sense for an elite prospect who is not going to get playing time on a powerhouse team to move elsewhere.

I think Askarov's probably a little too good to be ruined by the move at an early age.

Can't exactly agree here, I mean, currently he is not a full-time starter in the MHL and after 1.5 year we are expecting to be KHL regular for SKA? I mean, he is talented, but I'd say VHL is more likely and there's nothing wrong with that.

Very insightful interview. Athletes almost never provide the type of detail Askarov answered questions with. You can tell he has a very high hockey IQ. He also said that he's around 6'3 and 174 pounds now, which is less than EP lists him as.

«Равнялся на Куика, но так играть нельзя». У СКА растёт свой Василевский

Thanks for the link, really interesting one! EP lists him at 6'2" and 157 lbs, btw. And Askarov mentions that he is 191-192 cm (which is closer to 6'4") and is still growing.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Can't exactly agree here, I mean, currently he is not a full-time starter in the MHL and after 1.5 year we are expecting to be KHL regular for SKA? I mean, he is talented, but I'd say VHL is more likely and there's nothing wrong with that.

He's not a full-time MHL starter due to SKA's depth. He's had a pretty good MHL season. I think next year he could split time between MHL and VHL. The season after that, VHL and KHL. If we are going by what Vasilevskiy and Samsonov have done, I don't think its unrealistic to expect him to be able to play at least 10-20 KHL games the season after being drafted. The problem becomes SKA's depth, and how they operate. Young players have historically broken into their first team at an older age than most other KHL teams, including goalies. We can look no further than Shestyorkin. 9 games for Spartak the season before being drafted. 13 total the next two seasons. They also have drafted goalies in their system who still have yet to break into their first team.

Askarov is likely going to be a first round pick. There have been suggestions he could be picked in the top half of the first round. I know SKA does not care what NHL teams want, but if you are picking a kid in the first round, you want to maximize his development. SKA might not be the best place for that. Its the same type of concern I think teams are going to be looking at when considering Podkolzin in the first round this season. 2nd rounders Marchenko and Morozov have totaled 10 games this season. Its easier to forget about that. When we are talking about a first rounder not playing, its a different story. Do you remember what was being said when Guryanov and Rubtsov weren't playing?

 

[Caser]

He's not a full-time MHL starter due to SKA's depth. He's had a pretty good MHL season. I think next year he could split time between MHL and VHL. The season after that, VHL and KHL. If we are going by what Vasilevskiy and Samsonov have done, I don't think its unrealistic to expect him to be able to play at least 10-20 KHL games the season after being drafted. The problem becomes SKA's depth, and how they operate. Young players have historically broken into their first team at an older age than most other KHL teams, including goalies. We can look no further than Shestyorkin. 9 games for Spartak the season before being drafted. 13 total the next two seasons. They also have drafted goalies in their system who still have yet to break into their first team.

Askarov is likely going to be a first round pick. There have been suggestions he could be picked in the top half of the first round. I know SKA does not care what NHL teams want, but if you are picking a kid in the first round, you want to maximize his development. SKA might not be the best place for that. Its the same type of concern I think teams are going to be looking at when considering Podkolzin in the first round this season. 2nd rounders Marchenko and Morozov have totaled 10 games this season. Its easier to forget about that. When we are talking about a first rounder not playing, its a different story. Do you remember what was being said when Guryanov and Rubtsov weren't playing?

He was very good in some games, but he still raw and doesn't exactly have the long-term consistency yet, that's why he isn't a full-time starter (and obviously his U18 NT call-ups also impact that).

With Guryanov and Rubtsov the issue was that they weren't playing in the VHL, here it is unlikely to be an issue. And again, I think for goalies VHL is a pretty good development league, so I don't really understand what is wrong for even a first-round guy to be paying there for some time. I don't think that, for example, Shestyorkin's development was hurt in any way by playing there and while he isn't a first-rounder, he sure got some talent.

 

[SoundAndFury]

There is definitely nothing bad with playing in VHL, especially in the situation SKA have where you play in the same city as the big team, get top-level coaching and all that. Furthermore, with a roster as huge as they have SKA is actually pretty good at working in their young guys for some meaningless games.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Its not often that a player of his caliber is made to look as bad as he was made to look on the 1st and 4th American goals yesterday. Despite that, I thought Askarov played well against the Americans. It might've been too big of a task to expect him to win the game by himself. That was also probably the best team he's ever faced.

He was taken out of the game late on with injury. Has there been an update on what it was?