Confirmed with Link: [SJS/NSH] Yaroslavl Askarov, Nolan Burke, 2025 COL 3rd round pick for David Edstrom, Magnus Chrona, 2025 VGK 1st round pick (conditional)

[adsfan]

I wouldn't get too hung up on positional needs or just how high any 1st round pick is. We're not going to get a #11 pick back for Askarov. We're going to be beggars not choosers in this scenario that Askarov has kindly dumped on us.

Cossa is almost as good as Askarov, and I do think we need another prospect goalie in the pipeline. We actually WANT to get a young understudy in behind Saros. We just need one who is willing to follow a sensible path in that regard, and since Askarov won't, we can hope Cossa would. I think it would be great if we had a top prospect goalie ready to challenge Wedgewood right away.

Cossa 40 GP 2.41 22-9-9 55% wins/start

Asky 44 GP 2.39 30-13-1 68%

Troy 30 GP 2.56 17-8-2 57%

Grosenick matches well with Cossa too.

 

[Soundgarden]

I think I'd want a 1st, we'd have three next year, enough to possibly move into the top 5-10 if we like someone. But if we can get a legitimate prospect back I'd obviously like that too.

 

[ILikeItILoveIt]

Being a GM is an interesting job at the very least. You're tasked with building a winning roster and/or for the future while managing all sorts of personalities.

I understand Trotz's short and even long-term plans. Go big in FA, re-sign your elite goalie and hope you have enough talent in the pipeline to supplement the roster to make 2 or 3 good runs at the Cup. After that time period, you hope that you're young talent is overtaking some of the older vets by pushing them down the depth chart while keeping them around for leadership and intangibles.

My guess is Trotz wanted to know he had a goalie in Saros to compete the next 2-3 years, be damned the consequences down the road. Saros could age gracefully and have another 6-8 good years left in him. He could be done in 2-3 years, we just don't know.

While I get where Askarov is coming from, there are a couple of reasons the team made the decisions they did. One of the biggest ones was what I stated above, going for it the next couple of years and Trotz felt he needed a dependable goalie. On top of that, bringing Korn back in to evaluate the prized prospect. Why Trotz wouldn't trust Vanderklok alone on this I'm unsure of but if Korn thinks he needs more time in the minors, I'm going to trust his judgment as I know he can develop top-notch goalie talent.

What Askarov fails to realize is his best path and chance for success in the NHL is by listening to Korn. Korn will get the most out of him and the kid could be something special if he'd put his ego aside and put in the work. If he came to camp and worked his tail off, does he supplant Wedgewood as the backup? Maybe he does. Would that have been this best for his development, absolutely not. What they could've told him is, you beat out Wedgewood for the job BUT if you want to be a star in this league, go to Milwaukee, put in the work, put in the reps and it will pay off for you. What we're going to do is bring you up to start 20 or so games this year. Wedgewood is here in case Saros gets hurt or lit up in a game. We want you to be ready in case he gets hurt and the net is yours while he's out.

With this line of thinking/strategy, he's getting his work and games in at Milwaukee, he's getting his games in the NHL and the team can decide, does this kid have it or not. If he comes up with a chip on his shoulder and lights it up, you have him back up Saros in the playoffs. Maybe he gets some playoff time too and he lights it up. If he does, maybe you consider moving Saros before his NMC kicks in. I truly believe this is where Askarov was short-sighted. Sure, it looks like there isn't a path forward here for 9 years. If you're as good as you think you are, you make a space for yourself on the roster with your play. You go out and dominate. It's unfortunate he's had two playoff runs that look like most of our goalies.

Come to camp, make a case for yourself. Make it a hard decision for them to send you down. Make them call you up because you're shutting teams down nightly and in dominating fashion. Great players seem to have a chip on their shoulder, this is what makes them who they are. Yeah, you might think your path is blocked. Do something ungoalie like and unblock it.

While Saros has been relatively healthy, you just never know when someone goes down for an extended period of time and you're given the reigns. Be ready to seize that moment.

Will the Preds do any of what I suggested above, more than likely not, as in like 99.9% not happening. For a team that seems to struggle putting a Cup winning team on the ice, you have to make bold decisions and while I get what Trotz did, he and Poile should've moved Saros the season before last when everyone was getting traded away. It made the most sense then so you didn't end up where you are today with a soon to be 30 year old goalie on a massive deal with a great prospect waiting in the wings wanting to get moved.

Hindsight is always great and I'm sure in 2-3 years and then in another 7-9 years it'll be interesting to see how this all played out.

Trotz is betting on Saros and selling low on Arkarov. Trotz (and/or Korn) didn't think Askarov was ready. OK fine. But you can't sign Saros to an 8-year contract and expect your 1st-round draft pick developing goalie to keep playing hard, and maybe you'll be the backup and then take over when you are 30. Askarov is Poile's guy, not Trotz. Barry did what he did because he trusted Saros and didn't trust Askarov.

Askarov should not have to sacrifice his future because the team that drafted him just committed to another goalie long-term. Trotz made his choice, and Askarov is now making his choice.

I hope, like Ingram, he lands on a team that's more committed to him being their #1 within a few years. I hope Saros rewards our trust in him and wins us a Cup.

In my mind, Saros is an above-average goalie that we should be able to win with. However, we've never won a playoff series with Saros. His stats are good, but I still question if he will step up in the big moments. We all hoped Askarov's ceiling was higher than Saros. We'll never find out so it's Saros or bust.

The Askarov decision represents another prospect failure for the organization. As a fan, it fits a disturbing pattern. We need somebody, anybody, to get drafted by us, develop in our system, and become a star. Our last skater was Roman Josi, drafted in 2003. Let that sink in.

 

[triggrman]

You can’t put Poile’s past failures on Trotz, so far Trotz hasn’t had a failed prospect

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

You can’t put Poile’s past failures on Trotz, so far Trotz hasn’t had a failed prospect

I guess there is an open question on what constitutes "failure" as a prospect?

A guy like Afanaseyev, he had a great season in the AHL last year. Now he's gone. Did he fail? Or is that a Trotz failure for not providing a way to keep him around? Or similarly Tomasino the way things have trended for him so far. Trotz has a role to play in the handling of these prospects, which could be considered a contributing factor to their "failure". And so the consideration of the handling of Askarov.

Of course, it's early days, but I'm sure we'll eventually be able to line up plenty of failed prospects under Trotz's watch, that's just the nature of the beast with prospects. I'm encouraged so far by the "quantity" aspect of having acquired/retained draft picks under Trotz's brief tenure. Only time will tell if we get a better overall rate of return from our drafting and development.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Has our developmental philosophy really changed under Trotz at all? It's pretty much all the same guys we had under Poile and Poile himself remains as a Senior Adviser. There's been talk of changing our drafting philosophy to more risk-reward type players in the early round but I think Poile had already switched to that in his later years as well.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

I'm not sure who mentioned it, but I like the idea of starting him early and giving him some starts right out of the gate to see if that helps show his readiness and maybe improves offers. I don't know if getting 10-15 starts through the first month and half does much to move the needle, but I don't think I would just accept a lesser offer for him because that's the only option.

 

[Predsanddead24]

I'm not sure who mentioned it, but I like the idea of starting him early and giving him some starts right out of the gate to see if that helps show his readiness and maybe improves offers. I don't know if getting 10-15 starts through the first month and half does much to move the needle, but I don't think I would just accept a lesser offer for him because that's the only option.

If we're comfortable starting Askarov heavily early on in the season then why not just keep him as the backup all season and go from there?

 

[Flgatorguy87]

If we're comfortable starting Askarov heavily early on in the season then why not just keep him as the backup all season and go from there?

I assume he's not going to be happy signing a long-term deal here, and we aren't going to give him the opportunity he wants to be a full-time starter for a good while.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

I'm not sure who mentioned it, but I like the idea of starting him early and giving him some starts right out of the gate to see if that helps show his readiness and maybe improves offers. I don't know if getting 10-15 starts through the first month and half does much to move the needle, but I don't think I would just accept a lesser offer for him because that's the only option.

I wouldn't accept less than a 1st round pick or equivalent prospect. Below that, Askarov can sit and pound sand.

I would be very surprised if Trotz would even want him to come to training camp after this stunt. I guess he can't stop him? The player is under contract, there's not yet a reason to suspend him. Well, you could send him to the minors on Day 1 as soon as the assignment window opens up, then promptly suspend him, almost achieving the same result. But I don't think he's going to feel like giving in to the terrorist demands and hand the guy 10-15 starts in the NHL.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

I wouldn't accept less than a 1st round pick or equivalent prospect. Below that, Askarov can sit and pound sand.

I would be very surprised if Trotz would even want him to come to training camp after this stunt. I guess he can't stop him? The player is under contract, there's not yet a reason to suspend him. Well, you could send him to the minors on Day 1 as soon as the assignment window opens up, then promptly suspend him, almost achieving the same result. But I don't think he's going to feel like giving in to the terrorist demands and hand the guy 10-15 starts in the NHL.

I guess he could take this stance, but at the end of the day maximizing his value is only beneficial to us vs. being too proud to figure out a middle ground.

 

[Predsanddead24]

I assume he's not going to be happy signing a long-term deal here, and we aren't going to give him the opportunity he wants to be a full-time starter for a good while.

Those are likely issues but further down the road. The immediate issue to my understanding is that Askarov wants to be in the NHL this season (even as a backup) and we aren't willing to guarantee that to him. We'd probably still want to move him (or Saros) eventually but if we were comfortable with him as the backup I think we could at least make things work in the short term.

 

[Flgatorguy87]

Those are likely issues but further down the road. The immediate issue to my understanding is that Askarov wants to be in the NHL this season (even as a backup) and we aren't willing to guarantee that to him. We'd probably still want to move him (or Saros) eventually but if we were comfortable with him as the backup I think we could at least make things work in the short term.

If he looks great then I have no issues keeping him around until a deal is made...but I have said all along having 2 starting caliber NHL goalies isn't where I would want to concentrate my assets. It's like having 2 starting QBs to a degree. It's really nice to have a quality starter should you need it, but I'd much prefer to have that asset and money in a different spot that gets games every night.

 

[Predsanddead24]

I wouldn't accept less than a 1st round pick or equivalent prospect. Below that, Askarov can sit and pound sand.

I would be very surprised if Trotz would even want him to come to training camp after this stunt. I guess he can't stop him? The player is under contract, there's not yet a reason to suspend him. Well, you could send him to the minors on Day 1 as soon as the assignment window opens up, then promptly suspend him, almost achieving the same result. But I don't think he's going to feel like giving in to the terrorist demands and hand the guy 10-15 starts in the NHL.

Yeah if we can manage something halfway decent out of a trade I'd move him but if all your getting offers for are 2nd+ round picks or B prospects than I think we're better off taking a scorched Earth approach. It would be a really terrible precedent to set to let a guy try and force his way out before he's even done with his ELC. I'm pretty sympathetic to Askarov feeling the way he does, but there's already a mechanism to get off of a team that you feel doesn't value you appropriately and that's via an offer sheet. To get there you have to play out your ELC though.

If he looks great then I have no issues keeping him around until a deal is made...but I have said all along having 2 starting caliber NHL goalies isn't where I would want to concentrate my assets. It's like having 2 starting QBs to a degree. It's really nice to have a quality starter should you need it, but I'd much prefer to have that asset and money in a different spot that gets games every night.

If he looks great I don't think the team would have an issue keeping him around in the NHL either. The issue is that he wants that he seems to want that spot whether or not he looks great.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

I assume he's not going to be happy signing a long-term deal here, and we aren't going to give him the opportunity he wants to be a full-time starter for a good while.

Oh, he's gone as soon as we can regenerate his value enough to get an offer that matches what we want for him. It may be six months to a year or more down the line, but he won't be a Pred long-term. Would take some severe bending the knee to Trotz and recognizing the error of his ways for it to play out otherwise. Publicly shitcanning his agent would be a start.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Yeah, I don't think the Preds mindset in the first place included having Askarov in the NHL this season. Even before this. They really seemed to feel like he just needs the work in the AHL, period. (Which I tend to agree with from what I've seen). So if they were to give him NHL games now, it really could only be viewed as caving in to his stunt. Which I'm pretty sure Trotz would never do.

I do think Trotz is a lot more "nice" and willing to negotiate (within reason) than probably his outward exterior/reputation might suggest. He's a rational person and not the stubborn old school reactionary that some folks might like to paint him as. But at the same time... Askarov's approach is quite extreme, it's not something that ELC players very often do. And I don't believe we should cave in to it. If it was allowed to become commonplace, that would be a much bigger problem. I would fully support Trotz in setting a very firm precedent here.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Askarov's approach is quite extreme, it's not something that ELC players very often do.

I'm sure it's happened but I can't remember someone on an ELC trying something like this. You have leverage until you sign it and once its over, but once you sign a contract you kind of have to honor it or be willing to deal with the consequences (being suspended without pay and not having it toll).

 

[wmupreds]

Russian players simply have leverage, or at least options, that most other players don't. A Russian who is NHL level, or close to it, or well known, has little incentive to grind it out in the AHL. This is somewhat true of other Europeans but the pay difference is less.

If North Americans had an option to play at home for several times the money of the minors they would be leveraging that too. Possibly this won't work out for Askarov. There are no guarantees in this business. But I'm not gonna get mad at a guy for looking out for his career.

Personally I think it was fantasy to think something similar to this wasn't on the horizon after Saros signed max term, let alone the Wedgewood deal.

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

Russian players simply have leverage, or at least options, that most other players don't. A Russian who is NHL level, or close to it, or well known, has little incentive to grind it out in the AHL. This is somewhat true of other Europeans but the pay difference is less.

If North Americans had an option to play at home for several times the money of the minors they would be leveraging that too. Possibly this won't work out for Askarov. There are no guarantees in this business. But I'm not gonna get mad at a guy for looking out for his career.

Personally I think it was fantasy to think something similar to this wasn't on the horizon after Saros signed max term, let alone the Wedgewood deal.

Well, they have that leverage BEFORE they sign an NHL contract, anyway. Right now being Russian means zip all for Askarov's situation.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

I'm sure it's happened but I can't remember someone on an ELC trying something like this. You have leverage until you sign it and once its over, but once you sign a contract you kind of have to honor it or be willing to deal with the consequences (being suspended without pay and not having it toll).

I remain convinced the agent (or Yaro) saw how Egor's situation played out and thought that Trotz would just roll with it again. Askarov's higher value and contract status obviously made it a completely different scenario. A really bad misfire. He'll get his move eventually, but it's not going to be on his terms necessarily and it may not end up the optimal career choice.

 

[Predsanddead24]

Well, they have that leverage BEFORE they sign an NHL contract, anyway. Right now being Russian means zip all for Askarov's situation.

Although its not really clear where things stand on NHL-KHL transfers now so maybe he could go play in the KHL if he wanted. But I would assume we would still hold a year of his contract and his rights akin to the Radulov situation.

I remain convinced the agent (or Yaro) saw how Egor's situation played out and thought that Trotz would just roll with it again. Askarov's higher value and contract status obviously made it a completely different scenario. A really bad misfire. He'll get his move eventually, but it's not going to be on his terms necessarily and it may not end up the optimal career choice.

The unfortunate thing is that same agent also represents Svechkov and will presumably be Surin's agent when the time comes too.

 

[Gh24]

I do think Trotz is a lot more "nice" and willing to negotiate (within reason) than probably his outward exterior/reputation might suggest. He's a rational person and not the stubborn old school reactionary that some folks might like to paint him as. But at the same time... Askarov's approach is quite extreme, it's not something that ELC players very often do. And I don't believe we should cave in to it. If it was allowed to become commonplace, that would be a much bigger problem. I would fully support Trotz in setting a very firm precedent here.

I think so too. McDonagh being an exhibit A.

 

[OldScool]

Well, they have that leverage BEFORE they sign an NHL contract, anyway. Right now being Russian means zip all for Askarov's situation.

Spot on. Askarov right now has zero leverage. He has a contract and can't return to the KHL, etc. Nashville could just sit on him if that's what they think is best for the franchise. I really think Askarov overplayed his hand. I get it - there is a roadblock but why worry about it now? He isnt ready for the NHL....except he thinks he is. He hasn't dominated the AHL yet and thinks a NHL spot should be handed to him? Red flag for me if I was a GM.

 

[Bringer of Jollity]

I think so too. McDonagh being an exhibit A.

McDonagh is a really high character vet that worked and played at a high level even while being unhappy after leaving his desired location. That's a guy Trotz isn't going to put the screws to at all.

 

[PredsV82]

Trotz is betting on Saros and selling low on Arkarov. Trotz (and/or Korn) didn't think Askarov was ready. OK fine. But you can't sign Saros to an 8-year contract and expect your 1st-round draft pick developing goalie to keep playing hard, and maybe you'll be the backup and then take over when you are 30. Askarov is Poile's guy, not Trotz. Barry did what he did because he trusted Saros and didn't trust Askarov.

Askarov should not have to sacrifice his future because the team that drafted him just committed to another goalie long-term. Trotz made his choice, and Askarov is now making his choice.

I hope, like Ingram, he lands on a team that's more committed to him being their #1 within a few years. I hope Saros rewards our trust in him and wins us a Cup.

In my mind, Saros is an above-average goalie that we should be able to win with. However, we've never won a playoff series with Saros. His stats are good, but I still question if he will step up in the big moments. We all hoped Askarov's ceiling was higher than Saros. We'll never find out so it's Saros or bust.

The Askarov decision represents another prospect failure for the organization. As a fan, it fits a disturbing pattern. We need somebody, anybody, to get drafted by us, develop in our system, and become a star. Our last skater was Roman Josi, drafted in 2003. Let that sink in.

Weber was 2003. Josi was drafted in 2008. Your point is still valid, but a bit inaccurate