Colorado Avalanche made a mistake not offering enough for Askarov

Yaroslav Askarov, former Predators goaltender of the future, was traded to the San Jose Sharks recently. The Sharks gave up a prospect and a first-round pick to acquire Askarov’s services, which is certainly a high price for a player who’s played three games for an NHL team but will be well worth the risk in the long run.

If all it took to acquire Askarov was a first-round pick and a prospect, then the Colorado Avalanche missed a massive opportunity to solidify the goaltending position for years to come. The rumor was that Colorado had interest in the Russian netminder but were unable to complete the deal for reasons unknown to the layman.

For those unfamiliar with the expertise of Yaroslav Askarov, it is imperative to go watch his highlights. He burst onto the scene in the world juniors as the best goalie in the competition, and continued to play at a high level, garnering selection in the draft by the Nashville Predators. He’s been a “can’t miss” goalie prospect for a number of years now.

The 22-year-old right-handed catching goalie stands 6’3” and weighs around 180 lbs. His physical characteristics slot in between fellow Russian netminders Andrei Vasilevskiy and Igor Shesterkin—two prestigious names in Russian goaltending recency.

Pundits say Askarov is going to be a difference maker—exactly what the Avalanche need. For the last few seasons, even when they won the Cup in 2022, the Avalanche have had a disadvantage in goal. Darcy Kuemper was serviceable, Alexandar Georgiev likely the recipient of some good luck and excellent offense; but the Avalanche have not been able to put it all together to make a deep playoff run these past two seasons and goaltending is a big cause of that.

Acquiring a player like Askarov not only solves that problem in the future, but it solves it now too. Georgiev was effective as a backup prior to being acquired by Colorado and can re-assume that role. Askarov also instantly makes the Colorado prospect pool better.

A 22-year-old NHL ready goaltender is not something an NHL team finds available often, especially a team in need like the Avs are. Askarov had even asked the Preds for a trade. Those opportunities should have been jumped on by Chris MacFarland.

Maybe Nashville wouldn’t trade Askarov inside the division. Maybe the Avalanche didn’t have the necessary draft capital to satiate Nashville. Maybe they didn’t have the prospect the Preds wished for.

Whatever the case may be, the Avalanche had an opportunity to set their future for the next decade in between the pipes. They failed to do so. Let’s hope it doesn’t haunt them.