Insider Reveals Hilarious Story Of How He Almost Changed The NHL
Former scout and GM Shawn Simpson gave a little peak behind the curtain of a past correspondence with another front office exec that could have changed the course of the current look of things in the NHL.
Leading up to the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, Simpson was posting on X, at the time Twitter, about Russian goaltending prospect Yaroslav Askarov to the degree that it caught the eye of one team owner.
Ottawa Senators owner and chairman, the late Eugene Melnyk's interest was piqued, prompted assistant general manager Trent Mann to message Simpson directly to stop hyping the goalie.
With two early picks, Ottawa still passed on Askarov
The Senators possessed the third in fifth picks in that draft, choosing Tim Stutzle and Jake Sanderson, respectively, while Askarov fell to Nashville with the 11th pick.
Stutzle is currently the top line center for Ottawa and has 2 goals and nine assists this season. Sanderson is part of the second defensive pairing and averaged 24 minute of ice time this season, second most for the Sens.
Nashville still waiting for returns on Askarov
Now 21-years-old, Askarov has played just one NHL game, making a start in January of last season in which he gave up four goals at Montreal.
This Russian started this season in the AHL with the Milwaukee Admirals and has posted a 3-2 record with a 1.60 GAA over five starts.
| POLL | ||
Did the Senators make the right choice? | ||
| Yes | 15 | 71.4 % |
| No | 6 | 28.6 % |
| List of polls | ||
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