2020 NHL Draft prospect profile: Yaroslav Askarov scouting report

2020 NHL Draft prospect Yaroslav Askarov could be the next great Russian goaltender.

The 2020 NHL Draft is stacked with talent. Most of the best players are skaters, but there’s talent in net as well. Teams tend to be afraid of drafting goalies in the first round, but when someone like Yaroslav Askarov is available, you draft him. Askarov could hear his name called early in the draft in June.

I’ve previously written deep-dives on Alexis Lafreniere, Quinton Byfield, Lucas Raymond, Cole Perfetti, Anton Lundell, Alexander Holtz, Tim Stutzle, Noel Gunler, and Marco Rossi.

Before I begin, for those that don’t know, here’s how these scouting reports go. First, I will begin with some general background information and statistics from that player. Then, I will break down their tendencies, habits, and roles on special teams.

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Following that up, I will break down the positives and negatives in the prospects’ game. Finally, I will look at what I feel is the potential of that player, as well as his NHL-readiness.

Background

Askarov, born June 16th, 2002, in Omsk, Russia, is a 17-year-old goalie for SKA-Neva St. Petersburg of the VHL. The young netminder stands at 6’3″, 176 pounds.

What stands out the most for the top-ranked goalie is the fact that he catches with his right hand as opposed to the vast majority of goalies who catch with their left.

Askarov first made a name for himself in the 2018-19 season. That year, he played in Russia’s MHL with SKA-Varyagi in Morozova. He started 31 games as a 16-year-old, recording a 2.37 goals-against average (GAA) and a .921% save percentage (SV%).

However, where he really jumped off the page was in international play. He recorded a 1.40 GAA and a .948% SV% in five starts with Russia’s U-17 World Hockey Championship team, as well as a 2.31 GAA and .916% SV% in six starts with Russia’s U-18 World Junior Championship team. Askarov carried team Russia in the U-18’s as they went on to win the silver medal.

Askarov’s Tendencies

Before I get into the scouting report, I just want to give a big thanks to ProspectShifts for providing the shift-by-shift film on a bunch of 2020 draft prospects, including Askarov.

The first thing that really impressed me is how he kept his head on a swivel. For a defender, that is key in keeping the man you are covering in check. As a goalie, you’re able to see your surroundings and read the play as it’s developing.

However, goalies need to keep their eyes on the puck at all times, as their job is to keep it out of the back of the net. Askarov is good at taking a quick second to glance across the ice to read the play, then get back to watching where the puck was without skipping a beat.

Another thing Askarov does really well is to communicate with teammates. My high school coaches would preach to my team’s goalies that they need to yell out to a teammate if there is an open man.

It’s easy for a goalie to forget to communicate in the heat of the moment, as his focus is on the puck carrier. But Askarov is calm and collected. He casually points out to his teammates that an opponent is open while remaining focused on the person with the puck.

A very simple observation I had was in Askarov’s stance. As the opposing team gets closer to the net, he gets lower and lower in his stance. This allows him to drop down into the butterfly formation quickly in order to take away the bottom of the net. This is an ideal trait to have as a goalie.

However, it can lead to some bad habits and Askarov is no exception. That bad habit is dropping down too early. Doing this exposes the top of the net. No matter how good a goalie is, if a player is able to get a hard and accurate shot under the bar and the goalie is down in the butterfly early, it’s almost always a goal.

Another thing that Askarov struggles with is consistency in the way he attacks the opposing puck carrier. Watching him, he needs to come out of his net more to be more aggressive towards the shooter more often. And other times, he is caught too far out. He is a young goalie. Once he gets experience, he’ll get better at this.

Finally, the last observation I made was the way he played the puck. He likes coming out of his net when the opposing team dumps it in deep. However, that’s all he does, as when he does pick up the puck behind his net, he tends to just leave it there and go back to the crease. I would rather have a goalie who plays it safe like Askarov, especially at his age, and then slowly have him develop the confidence to take some chances with a quick and effective breakout pass.

Positives and Negatives

Askarov is just an unbelievable goalie. He looks beyond his years, as it’s very rare to see a goalie as far along in his development as he is. Askarov is remarkably sound technically. He is almost robotic.

Watching him play, he drops down and gets back up lightning quick. It effectively takes away the bottom of the net. Not to mention, he does a good job with his stick, covering up his five-hole almost completely. He is extremely difficult to score on down low for those reasons.

Askarov also possesses excellent vision and IQ. He reads the play really well and does an excellent job tracking the puck through screens. His lateral movements are smooth and he takes away angles with ease.

He also does a nice job sealing off the posts. Askarov’s ability to press both his leg pad and upper-body to the post is technically sound. Even with NHL goalies, there can be a small hole right over their shoulders, but this isn’t the case with Askarov (at least not consistently). If someone attempts a wrap-around on him, he does a nice job holding off the attempt with relative ease.

Askarov has good upper-body mobility as well. He can get his glove and blocker out to make saves just as quickly as he can drop down and cover the bottom of the net. Askarov good at securing shots sent to his glove-side and he is good at controlling rebounds when shots are sent high on his blocker-side. He is all-around difficult to beat.

Like with most European goalies who are used to playing in a slower-paced game in a bigger rink, Askarov struggles with rebound control. It doesn’t help that he does tend to over-commit to shots from time to time, thus making a second or third opportunity more difficult on himself.

However, he does a nice job covering up his poor rebound control with excellent recovery. As stated earlier, Askarov gets down in the butterfly and right back up with rapid succession. That remains the case with his recovery, as he is so quick to make the first save, adjust his angle, then make a second save.

What helps Askarov’s case is the fact that he plays in Russia. Though he hasn’t played much at the KHL level, it’s fair to say that Russia has the most competitive leagues for younger players.

It’s more difficult for young players to stand out in Russia than it is for young players to stand out in Canada. That’s due to a mix of younger players and older players, oftentimes former NHLers. The fact that Askarov had a small taste of what it’s like to face off against men, and did really well doing so, tells us he could handle a professional level.

His calmness and maturity are almost tangible when you watch him. Being able to hone in your emotions as a goalie is key, as a big piece of a goalies game relies on mental toughness. Askarov is calm and mature in the net. Every NHL team wants to have a goalie that looks as level-headed and skilled as Askarov is.

Potential, NHL Comparison, and NHL Readiness

It’s almost impossible to suggest what a goalie could become. Mental toughness is key in a goalie’s development. That said, if something happens on or off the ice that has an impact on Askarov mentally, it could drastically change his NHL potential.

However, leading up to the draft, there’s no doubt that his NHL potential is sky-high. He has the ability to be a franchise-altering addition for whoever decides to take him. But there is a realistic chance that Askarov completely fizzles out and ends up being a bust. It’s unlikely, but still very possible.

NHL-readiness is hard to pin-point for just about any player, but it’s especially hard for goalies too. To truly see how long it will take him to come over to North America, it’s important to look at other examples, such as Andrei Vasilevskiy, Igor Shesterkin, and Ilya Samsonov.

The reason I chose those three goalies is that they all came from Russia and have unbelievable potential. Vasilevskiy was drafted in 2012 and made his NHL debut in the 2014-15 NHL season, Shesterkin was drafted in 2014 and made his NHL debut this season (2019-20), and Samsonov was drafted in 2015, making his NHL debut this season as well.

Those three goalies took between two and four years to finally come overseas and play NHL hockey. Samsonov, though very comparable, was better leading into his draft year (2015) than the three aforementioned goalies, especially Shesterkin. That said, it could be just one more year before Askarov becomes a good enough goalie to slot into a few NHL games.

Before I get into comparison, just keep in mind this is solely based on style and not how good a player will become. I listed three Russian goalies who have now all made it to the NHL level, with Samsonov and Vasilevskiy being the first-rounders between the three I mentioned.

However, none of them catches with their right hand as Askarov does. In my opinion, due to the rarity of right-catching goalies, Askarov has an advantage over other netminders. For the sake of comparison, he’s athletic like Vasilevskiy and possesses a similar skill set. He’s basically Vasilevskiy if he could catch with his right hand.