Defenseman Jack Thompson is staying on the San Jose Sharks roster after all. After reassigning Thompson yesterday evening to their AHL affiliate, the San Jose Barracuda, the organization announced they’ve recalled Thompson while sending goaltender Yaroslav Askarov back down to the AHL.
Thompson has been an effective blue-liner for the Sharks in his second year with the organization. He’s scored two goals and five points in 13 contests while averaging 15:55 of ice time per game. He’s third behind Jake Walman and Timothy Liljegren amongst defensemen with a 46.6% CorsiFor% at even strength and leads Sharks’ defensemen with a 92.7% on-ice save percentage in all situations.
He won’t land on many lists of top prospects for San Jose but Thompson is already developing into a serviceable two-way defenseman. He may even see his ice time climb to around 18 minutes per night should the Sharks move on from pending unrestricted free agents, Cody Ceci and Jan Rutta, by the end of the season.
With all due respect to Thompson and his solid start to the year, the headline of this transaction is surely Askarov. He’s not only the top goaltending prospect in the Sharks pipeline but remains one of the best goaltending prospects in the league.
San Jose acquired Askarov this past offseason for a package including Vegas’ first-round pick in 2025 and former first-round pick of the 2023 NHL Draft David Edstrom. Askarov debuted with the Sharks on November 21st due to an injury to netminder Vitek Vanecek.
He played phenomenally in two starts, managing a 1-0-1 record while posting a .927 save percentage and 1.96 goals against average. San Jose wants more seasoning in the AHL for Askarov where he’s already collected a 6-3-0 record for the Barracuda this season with a .939 SV% and 1.92 GAA. The team will likely wait closer to the 2025 trade deadline before making Askarov a full-time NHL netminder after peddling pending UFA’s Vanecek and Mackenzie Blackwood on the trade market.
Thompson is a fantastic kid with a fantastic family! This kid has worked hard his whole life to get here! So happy to see him having success at the highest level!
Askarov needs to be playing in the NHL full time, now. It’s hard to think the Sharks are doing anything but throwing games by not playing their best goaltender on a regular basis.