We can talk about Jeff Hackett and Brian Hayward in the early days of the San Jose Sharks, but there was a Latvian kid who stole the show with his athleticism and puck-stopping skills that needs to be mentioned. Drafted 196th-overall in the tenth round of the 1989 NHL Entry Draft by the Minnesota North Stars, goaltender Arturs Irbe was selected in the 1991 Dispersal Draft from the North Stars as the 18th selection of the 24 players they could take from the North Stars. At the time, Irbe was playing in the Soviet Championship League with Dynamo Riga, so it wasn't expected that he'd make the jump immediately from the Soviet Union to the NHL.
In 1991, Irbe would land in San Jose where he played 13 games as he adjusted to North American hockey, going 2-6-3 with a 4.47 GAA and an .868 save percentage. 1992-93 didn't go much better after he saw action in 36 games, posting a 7-26-0 record with a 4.11 GAA and an .886 save percentage. It seemed like Irbe wasn't the goalie that San Jose hoped they were getting when they chose him in the dispersal draft, but they stuck with the "little Latvian" into the 1993 season.
The addition of some key players and a new coach in the 1993 offseason pushed San Jose to new heights in the NHL's Pacific Division, but this was Irbe's breakout season as well. He played in 74 of the 84 games that the Sharks played, posting a 30-28-16 record on the strength of a 2.89 GAA and an .899 save percentage. The defensively-minded Sharks proved that they could hang with some of the better teams in the NHL that season, shocking everyone with a first-round upset of the Detroit Red Wings in their first-ever playoff appearance! They'd fall to the Maple Leafs in Round Two in seven games, but history was written and moments like the one below were why Artus Irbe became a San Jose Sharks goaltending legend!
After Irbe left the Sharks in 1996, the Sharks tried to find a big-name replacement by bringing in guys like Chris Terreri, Ed Belfour, Kelly Hrudey, and Mike Vernon, the Sharks found another player within their ranks who was also playing for a Russian Dynamo team. Evgeni Nabokov had been selected 219th-overall in the ninth round of the 1994 NHL Entry Draft by San Jose, and he was playing for Dynamo Moscow when the Sharks selected him. Again, there was no guarantee he was joining the Sharks anytime soon, but they'd get him over to North America a few years later.
A forgettable 1997-98 season with the AHL's Kentucky Thoroughblades where Nabokov went 10-21-2 in 33 games on the strength of a 3.92 GAA and an .872 save percentage was erased one season later when the Nabokov the Sharks saw in Russia arrived. 1998-99 would see him play 43 games with the Thoroughblades, posting a 26-14-1 record as he pushed his GAA down to 2.62 and raised his save percentage to .909. He helped Kentucky knock off the Hershey Bears in the opening round of the Calder Cup Playoffs before falling to the Philadelphia Phantoms in Round Two in seven games.
In 2000-01, Evgeni Nabokov would be in San Jose to stay as he logged 66 games that season, going 32-21-7 with a 2.19 GAA and a .915 save percentage. The Sharks would be upset in the opening round of the playoffs by the St. Louis Blues, but Nabokov was named as the Calder Trophy winner as the best rookie in the NHL. He'd continue to backstop the Sharks to new successes as the team relied on Nabokov for jaw-dropping moments like from the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs!
There have been a pile of other impressive netminders who have stood in the Sharks' crease since Nabokov and Irbe, but no one has had the same success as these two netminders. Yes, both Antti Niemi and Martin Jones had their moments in trying to be as good as these two iconic Sharks netminders while names like Adin Hill and Devyn Dubnyk have followed Irbe and Nabokov with lesser success, but the two Russian netminders helped to put the Sharks in the upper echelon of the NHL during their times on the west coast.
San Jose's now where Askarov can cement his legacy as well, and the Sharks could desperately use another good netminders to get them back to the heights they experienced with both Irbe and Nabokov. Again, there's no guarantee that Askarov will find the same success in San Jose that Irbe and Nabokov did, but it seems the Sharks have had success with Russian-born and Russian-trained netminders in their history. Maybe Sharks fans will be treated to saves like this?
Sharks fans will enjoy watching Askarov's athleticism on display, and he can handle the puck well which should help the Sharks in the defensive sone as well. He won't be your quiet, make-all-the-saves goalie like Irbe nor will he be as safe with the puck as Nabokov was, but that excitement will be fun to watch. I'm excited to see Askarov take the reigns in San Jose, and I suspect we'll be adding his name to the goaltending greats who wore the Sharks' teal when his time with the team is done!
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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