Weighing the Pros and Cons of Whether the Devils Should Pursue a Yaroslav Askarov Trade

One of the best goaltending prospects in the world has requested a trade. Should the Devils be in on Yaroslav Askarov despite already addressing the goaltending position this offseason?

Earlier this week, ESPN and NHL Network insider Kevin Weekes dropped a report that could shake up the goaltender landscape in the NHL for years to come.

Yaroslav Askarov, the 11th pick of the 2020 NHL Draft by the Nashville Predators and considered to be one of the top goaltending prospects in the world, has primarily played the last two seasons with Nashville’s AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. And he certainly has played quite well for them, posting a .911 save percentage in 92 games over the two seasons. He has also had a cup of coffee at the NHL level, making three appearances over the last two seasons. At the age of 22 and with two AHL seasons under his belt, one would seemingly think that he has little left to prove at the AHL level and he is ready to, at the bare minimum, be part of an NHL tandem.

The Nashville Predators don’t seem to think so.

Nashville muddied the waters a bit when they signed franchise goaltender Juuse Saros to an 8-year contract extension, tying him to Nashville through the 2032-33 season. That in itself isn’t necessarily a death blow for Askarov’s NHL prospects in the Music City though, as the Predators have a history of playing the long game with their netminders. Saros and franchise icon Pekka Rinne shared the net for five years until Rinne retired following the 2020-21 season. One could argue that Saros and Askarov could’ve also shared the net with Askarov eventually becoming the #1 goaltender years down the line.

With Nashville set with their starter in net, there’s still room for a quality #2 and one of the best goaltending duos in the league for years to come, right? Not exactly, as veteran goaltender Scott Wedgewood signed a two-year deal to be Saros’s backup on July 1.

The Predators are in a position where they don’t have to rush Askarov to the NHL level, as Saros and Wedgewood can handle NHL duties for now until Askarov is deemed ready, at which point they’d likely trade or waive Wedgewood. Askarov also doesn’t have to clear waivers to be sent down, so that’s pretty much it then, right? End of story? Not quite, as Weekes’s tweet above illustrates.

Askarov is entering the final season of his ELC and is presumably looking to establish himself as an NHL goaltender now so he can be paid like one sooner rather than later. That is understandable. It’s also understandable that Nashville would put up some semblance of a roadblock to make Askarov earn the job rather than just handing it to him. Saros having his contract and his level of job security is one thing. Giving a journeyman veteran backup in Wedgewood two years is another. And while Askarov should be able to beat out Wedgewood at some point to take the job from him, it likely won’t be in Year 1 of a two-year commitment. Hence, Askarov’s trade request and Nashville running damage control after the fact.

But this isn’t a Nashville Predators blog. It’s a New Jersey Devils blog, which raises the question as to how this impacts the Devils and whether or not they should pursue Askarov, even after seemingly solving their goaltending woes with the trades for Jacob Markstrom and Jake Allen.

The short answer to those questions is yes, the Devils should be checking in on this. I don’t doubt that GM Tom Fitzgerald and Predators GM Barry Trotz (and former GM David Poile before him) have spoken quite a bit about Askarov over the years as the Devils have dealt with their own goaltending woes. Obviously, things have never developed to the point with Askarov to where him landing in New Jersey was a possibility and the Devils went in a different direction.

But things can change. Circumstances change. The player has now made a very public trade request through Weekes. The Predators are playing hardball to try to maintain some leverage over the situation, but let’s be frank. The Predators didn’t give Scott Wedgewood two years with the intention of Askarov being on the NHL team this season. They can say all they want that they expect him to compete for a job in camp, but that’s like saying your third line AHL winger is competing with Stefan Noesen for a roster spot. He’s not. Circumstances have changed with Askarov wanting out, which raises the question whether or not the Devils should be in.

Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of a potential pursuit of Askarov and whether or not its worth it for the Devils to pursue it at this time.

PRO: If Askarov lives up to the hype, the Devils have solved the goaltender problem for the next decade

I look at NHL goaltenders in a similar manner to how I look at NFL franchise quarterbacks. You either have that “no doubt about it”, franchise guy, or you don’t. And if you don’t, you should be exhausting every option until you do have one. Granted, this is how I look at it and not necessarily how the league looks at it, otherwise we might see more and more goaltenders go in the first round of the draft, but I think the position is too important to have a revolving door of guys and hope one catches fire.

To draw another NFL parallel, consider the Atlanta Falcons for a moment. The Atlanta Falcons have needed a franchise quarterback for the last several years since Matt Ryan declined as a player and ultimately left. The Falcons tried the draft and development route with Desmond Ridder, which didn’t work. The new regime in Atlanta decided to move on from Ridder and get the best QB they could this offseason signing free agent Kirk Cousins to a four-year deal.

Cousins has been a pretty good NFL quarterback throughout his career, but he doesn’t come without his flaws. He’s 36 years old, he’s coming off of a torn Achilles injury, and he has a reputation for coming up small in big games. He’s good, but not great, which for most NFL teams that don’t have a QB, is great. Cousins, at a minimum, raises the floor of quarterback play. The problem is that at his age and with his limited upside, he’s really a temporary solution. Atlanta still needs to find their long-term solution at the position.

The Falcons picked 8th in the NFL Draft this past season and surprised the NFL world when they chose to draft Washington QB Michael Penix Jr. A lot of people in football circles ridiculed the pick after they spent the kind of money they just spent on Cousins two months earlier and wanted them to use the pick to address a different need. But Atlanta looked at this as an opportunity to solve their QB problem long-term by drafting and developing an heir apparent while getting quality QB play in the here and now. Their justification was that with Cousins, they wouldn’t pick as high as 8th overall again the next few years and they needed to strike now to get “their guy”. Time will tell if they’re right, but there is some logic to their line of thinking.

I’m not saying that Markstrom is Cousins and Askarov is Penix in this analogy but I do think when you’re the Devils and you’ve churned through as many goaltenders as you have in the Fitzgerald era, it does grow tiresome having to continue to address that hole on the roster year after year after year. There are plenty of perennial contenders that don’t have to deal with this every summer. The thought of acquiring, arguably, the #1 goaltending prospect in the world and having him be part of what you’re building in New Jersey has to have crossed Fitzgerald’s mind at some point, no?

Askarov has a long way to go to live up to the hype and ultimately be that player. But IF he works out, you’re set. Similar to how the Chiefs are set at QB with Patrick Mahomes. Similar to how the Lightning are set with Andrei Vasilevskiy. You’re done addressing the goaltending position on an annual basis and can

There’s one potential big problem with that, though.

CON: Askarov has yet to prove that he is an NHL goaltender

With the way people have talked about Askarov and his theoretical upside, its important to remember that he’s played three more NHL games than you or I have in our respective lifetimes. THREE. GAMES.

Of course, one could ask how can Askarov establish himself when the Predators keep throwing roadblocks in his way. And while that argument might have some merit, we are talking about a tricky position at which to evaluate and develop players. The Predators are doing things the way they’ve done them for a reason, and it likely has to do with the fact that they’ve had success doing things the way they’ve done them. The Predators have successfully developed goaltenders in the past so they do deserve the benefit of the doubt that they know what they’re doing in that respect.

Still, consider this tweet from JFresh that I saw earlier this week.

There’s a lot of guys on that list who turned out to be very good goaltenders. There’s also a lot of guys like Zach Fucale, Malcolm Subban, Jon Gillies, and Tyler Parsons who turned out to be just a guy. I’m not necessarily saying Askarov will bust, but goaltenders busting happens more than you’d think. Goaltenders are not as reliable to predict as skaters when it comes to their future prospects.

I still think Askarov’s upside is worth taking a swing on, but the truth of the matter is that Askarov has accomplished little to nothing to this point at the NHL level. You’re betting on upside and not anything he’s actually done, which brings me to my next con.

CON: Is Fitzgerald ready to turn to another unproven goaltender?

What do Mackenzie Blackwood, Akira Schmid, and Nico Daws all have in common?

Aside from being Devils draft picks, they were all viewed as the Devils potential goaltender of the future at one point or another. But that’s not what I’m alluding to.

They were all thrown into the fire at a very young age.

Blackwood was the most experienced of the three, playing parts of three AHL seasons before making his NHL debut shortly after his age 22 birthday. Schmid debuted at 21 years old less than a year after primarily playing in the USHL, while Daws debuted before his 21st birthday in his first pro season in North America. To make matters worse, the Devils played these players as much as they did out of necessity and behind inexperienced lineups that didn’t defend all that well. The Devils, as an organization, didn’t do these players any favors, and two of the three of them are no longer in the organization as a result.

The difference here is that Askarov is 22, his level of experience is closer to Blackwood than the other two goaltenders, and he has more upside than any of the goalies I just mentioned. He’d also be going to a team that just spent the summer making a coaching change, upgrading the blueline, and recommitting to responsible defensive play. So perhaps things wouldn’t be as rough for Askarov.

That said, Fitzgerald made the trade for Markstrom for a reason. He made the trade for Allen for a reason. He wanted experienced veteran goaltenders playing the position after dealing with as many inexperienced pros as he has throughout his run in New Jersey. Turning to Askarov likely means pushing one of the veterans aside (presumably, Allen), and I don’t know if Fitzgerald is ready to do that quite yet.

But should Fitzgerald be looking at it that way?

PRO: Markstrom and Allen aren’t the long-term solutions at the position, and both shouldn’t be blocking him

Jacob Markstrom is a pro with 14 years of NHL experience. He will turn 35 years old in January of 2025 and has two years remaining on his contract.

Jake Allen is a pro with 11 years of NHL experience. He just turned 34 years old earlier this month and has one season remaining on his contract.

I would consider Markstrom and Allen to be the “here and now” solutions to the Devils goaltending situation, in that they’re both here and now. Maybe they play well. Maybe they don’t. I don’t have a crystal ball to predict the future. If one or both plays well, I think there’s a conversation to be had about adding another year onto their contracts and basically going year-to-year with them. And if they don’t play well, the Devils likely move on from them when the time comes, and they likely start having the goaltender conversations that I already alluded to that Fitzgerald seemingly has every summer.

Askarov is 22. He can’t hit UFA until 2029.

Consider another analogy from a different sport for a moment. Let’s go back to 2004-05 when Carlos Beltran hit free agency in MLB. Carlos Beltran wanted to be a New York Yankee. Beltran was a five-tool player in his prime. A gold glove caliber center fielder coming off of a huge postseason with the Astros. Hits for average. Hits for power. Steals a ton of bases. Meanwhile, the Yankees are coming off an embarrassing defeat against the Boston Red Sox, blowing a 3-0 lead in the ALCS. The Yankees core from their dynasty years was getting older, slower, and stale. Beltran would be the perfect fit to rejuvenate the Yankees and give them what they need to get back to the World Series, right?

Well, he would’ve been, except for one problem. The Yankees already had a center fielder at the time, as Bernie Williams just finished his age 35 season. Bernie Williams was solid at 35 years old, but father time is undefeated, Williams was slowing down and really needed to be moved to LF if he was going to continue playing every day, and Williams was under contract for two more seasons. The situation was complicated and one of the Yankees own making. The Yankees could’ve had the foresight to see that a decline was coming and made room for Beltran by shifting Williams to a bench role or by trading fellow veteran OF Gary Sheffield, who was also 35 years old at this point. The Yankees passed, Beltran wound up signing with the Mets, and the Yankees moved on from both Williams and Sheffield after the 2006 season for younger options.

My point is that there is a roadblock at the NHL level right now, but its not a long-term roadblock. Maybe Askarov is open to the idea of coming to New Jersey knowing he’d have to make a pitstop in Utica. Its not like Askarov can block a trade, but he can threaten to not report, which brings me to my next con.

CON: Why would Askarov prefer Utica to Milwaukee if he wants to be an NHL goaltender right now?

The whole reason why Askarov might be available in the first place is because he doesn’t view himself as an AHL goaltender. He views himself as an NHL goaltender and that he should be in the NHL to start next season. So why would he prefer Utica to Milwaukee if he doesn’t want to be in Milwaukee?

Short answer is that he probably wouldn’t, nor should he. I certainly can’t think of a reason. He hasn’t been in the Devils organization and there’s at least as much of a roadblock blocking him from NHL time in New Jersey as there is in Nashville, at least for this upcoming season.

It’s easy to throw your hands up and say “well, just trade Jake Allen to Nashville then and problem solved”. Perhaps, although Nashville probably has no use for Allen since their NHL goaltending is set going into the year. One could always find a third team for Allen, who according to PuckPedia, can block trades to only 3 teams this season. But again, is Fitzgerald going to want to give up the veteran stability he now has in net after dealing with instability for as long as he has.

Now, is there an avenue to the Devils keeping Markstrom and Allen and trading for Askarov anyways with the intention of him playing for Utica this season? I suppose so. Maybe Askarov views the Devils situation as one having a clearer path to the NHL since Allen isn’t under contract for next season. Or maybe that doesn’t matter and he wants to be in the NHL now.

PRO: With Askarov wanting out, that could lower the asking price

I’ll preface these next two sections by saying goaltender trades are weird and the goaltending market is weird. Every time a good goaltender is available, he seems to go for less than what most people expect, with the fans from the team trading away the goaltender saying “wait, that’s it. That’s all we could get?”

With that said, Barry Trotz has had a high price attached for Askarov for quite some time, and obviously, nobody has matched that price to this point. Multiple drafts have come and gone. Multiple trade deadlines have come and gone. Multiple free agency frenzies have come and gone. Askarov is still a Predator.

Trotz is under no obligation to trade Askarov. The player, or more likely his agent, can be unhappy all he wants. But eventually, something has to happen on this front. Either cooler heads prevail, Askarov rescinds his request, and continues to develop until the Predators decide he’s ready for the NHL. Or Trotz decides that its not worth the headache after spending a ton of money in UFA to make this year’s team better now and he decides to honor the request to get a piece or pieces that helps him win now.

I’m not even going to pretend to know what an Askarov trade might look like, but I do think Trotz probably has to come down from his previous requests with Askarov, which was reportedly a willingness to package him with picks in an attempt to move into the Top 5 of the NHL Draft. And while I’m not suggesting he can be had for a bag of pucks, I do think your typical 1st round pick, prospect, and/or young player is a basis of which to work from when coming up with competitive offers.

CON: With a lower asking price comes more competition from around the league

Askarov and his potentially massive upside as a player isn’t exactly a secret to the other 30 teams in the league aside from Nashville and New Jersey. If he is available, there will be interest. And if the asking price is lower than it has been in the past, it would stand to reason that even more suitors would check in.

Askarov could be traded to a handful of teams right now and likely be the starting NHL goaltender on Opening Night. Rebuilding teams like the Sharks, Blackhawks, the Canadiens, and the Utah Hockey Club have plenty of prospects and draft picks at their disposal to take that kind of gamble. Never mind contenders and wannabe contenders with somewhat unsettled situations like Toronto, Los Angeles, Colorado, Carolina, Vegas, Seattle, Washington, Pittsburgh, and Minnesota. Half the league should be in on a potential Askarov trade.

Fitzgerald might have an advantage over the field in that he has a long-standing relationship with Trotz and that there could be a “don’t do anything until you call me back” understanding between the two. But he still has to put together a competitive package if he’s serious about getting a deal done. Nashville has to do what’s best for them if they are making this trade. The Devils already traded their first round pick for next season in the Markstrom deal, and their prospect pool has thinned out due to graduations, trades, and players not hitting their ceilings. I’m not saying a trade is impossible, or that its not worth pursuing. But its not a foregone conclusion either.

Final Thoughts

It would be a bold move for the Devils to pursue an Askarov trade this quickly after acquiring both Markstrom and Allen. After all, Markstrom has yet to make his Devils debut, and we haven’t seen the 2024-25 team play a single game yet.

That said, I do believe fortune favors the bold, and I look back on teams that have recently made bold moves. They’re not apples to apples comparisons but Florida trading what they traded to get Matthew Tkachuk was a bold move and that paid off with a championship. Tampa trading 1st round picks for grinder, energy, types in Blake Coleman and Barclay Goodrow was a bold move since those aren’t the types of players that typically go for first round picks. But it was exactly what Tampa needed. And a team like Vegas has built a perennial contender on making bold moves. It hasn’t always worked for Vegas, but the one time it did work for them and they won the Cup made it all worth it.

I would not trade Markstrom if I were Tom Fitzgerald, but I think the crux of this argument of whether the Devils should pursue Askarov comes down to two key points. Does Askarov have the kind of upside where he can be a no-doubt-about-it franchise goaltender for the next decade? And should Jake Allen’s presence on the roster be the roadblock that prevents that move from happening if you can make that deal?

Obviously, there is risk involved with Askarov in that he has yet to prove he is an NHL goaltender, let alone a good one. But there’s risk involved in having a 35 and 34-year old being your goaltending tandem as well. Jake Allen might have a few good years left of being an NHL player left, but the best of Jake Allen as a player is already behind him. The best of Askarov, if it exists, is in front of him. If you believe in Askarov’s upside, isn’t that worth pursuing at the most important position regardless of the current NHL situation?

The Devils made the moves they’ve made this summer in part because they’re a win now team. But the Devils have been a team that has played the long game with their approach. They let veteran defensemen leave in free agency last offseason because they were willing to take their lumps with younger defensemen with bigger upside. Some would call that short-term pain for long-term gain, and that’s fair, but I would say that’s part of playing the long game which Fitzgerald has consistently done as the GM.

It’s possible that Askarov might not be better than Jake Allen is right now. But its also possible that Askarov is 2-3 years away from being one of the best goaltenders in the league if he lives up to his potential. The Devils can still play Markstrom in 50-55 starts this season and win games now while breaking in a young Askarov as the backup and eventual successor. Will there be growing pains? Probably to some extent, as there usually are with younger players. But with Askarov, I think this is another situation where any potential short-term pain is worth the long-term benefits.

Whether or not the Devils still have enough assets to make this trade is another story, and what Askarov would cost in a trade is certainly up for debate. But is this something the Devils should be in on? Absolutely.