Major trade between the Montreal Canadiens and Nashville involving goaltender Yaroslav Askarov? It has just been claimed on BPM Sport radio waves
Many speculations took place during the last NHL draft concerning the availability of goaltender Yaroslav Askarov with the Nashville Predators.
These rumors even involved the Canadiens as the new GM of Nashville, Barry Trotz, wanting to hit a home run during the event, allegedly offered the 15th and 24th selections in addition to Askarov, to Kent Hughes, in return for the 5th overall pick. We all know what happened next...
In the context of a long interview to talk about his goalies, Trotz somewhat confirmed that the Russian goaltender was not in the team's future plans. Indeed, he praised a few goalies in his organization, like Juuse Saros and Kevin Lankinen (Saros' backup), but Askarov's name was ignored.
On the airwaves of BPM Sports, George Laraque took the opportunity to elaborate on the subject. According to him, the Canadiens have no choice but to go get Yaroslav Askarov.
The former NHLer is sure that the rebuild in net would be a thing of the past and that the CH's future at this position would certainly be assured. But Hughes will not be the only GM looking to acquire the goaltender if that's really what Nashville wants. The battle will therefore be big, and the price to pay will certainly be high.
The Russian goaltender only has one NHL game experience. It was precisely against the CH last season, and it ended in a loss for him. He stopped 31 out of 35 shots directed at him, finishing the game with a save percentage of 0.886. In 48 games in the AHL with the Admirals, he amassed a record of 26-16-5, averaging 2.6 goals against and a save percentage of 0.911.
An interesting fact about Askarov, he still has two seasons on his NHL entry contract, at $925,000 each, and does not have to go through waivers, unlike Cayden Primeau, to go to the AHL. The young man of only 21 years old therefore still has a few years of development ahead of him.
| POLL | ||
Would you trade Mesar, Primeau, and a top-10 protected 1st pick, for Askarov? | ||
| Yes | 237 | 53.7 % |
| No | 204 | 46.3 % |
| List of polls | ||
