Sharks’ prized young goalie injured as training camp opens

SAN JOSE — The San Jose Sharks opened training camp Thursday without four injured players, including goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov, who is out with a lower-body injury, the team announced before players took the ice.

Also ruled out for at least the beginning of training camp are captain Logan Couture, who has been dealing with an ongoing groin injury, and defensemen Shakir Mukhamadullin (lower body) and Marc-Edouard Vlasic (upper body).

While Couture’s return is not on the near horizon, Askarov, Mukhamadullin, Vlasic, and Vlasic are all considered day-to-day, Sharks coach Ryan Warsofsky said Thursday.

Sharks general manager Mike Grier said he believed Askarov was injured while on the ice this past weekend. Vlasic was hurt during a recent captain’s skate, and Mukhamadullin was held out of the recent Rookie Faceoff in Los Angeles because of “general soreness,” Barracuda coach John McCarthy told reporters last week.

Askarov forward Nolan Burke and a 2025 third-round draft choice were acquired by the Sharks last month from Nashville in a deal that sent forward prospect David Edstrom, goaltender Magnus Chrona, and a 2025 first-round pick to the Predators. That first-rounder originally belonged to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Grier said none of the injured players will be rushed back.

“I just think we’re fortunate enough that we’re in September, and we can take our time to make sure we get these guys right and ready for the long haul,” Grier said. “Sometimes it’s, it’s backing the players off themselves. I’m sure there were cases last year and all around the league where the players want to push through stuff because they’re excited to play a new season and get out there and help their team.

“But we just want to make sure we get everyone healthy so they can be there and available for us in the regular season and contribute for as much of the season as they can. So that’s really what it’s all about. We have the time now, so we might as well use it.”

Couture missed 76 of 82 games in 2023-24 with a potentially debilitating condition called osteitis pubis, or inflammation in the joint between the left and right pubic bones. After missing all of training camp and the Sharks’ first 45 games, Couture returned and played in six straight games from Jan. 20-31 before being shelved again.

Couture would sit out the rest of the season and said in April that he hoped to resume skating sometime in July. But general manager Mike Grier said late last month that Couture had yet to get on the ice, casting more doubt as to whether the career Shark would be ready for the start of training camp this week or be able to play in the team’s season-opener on Oct. 10.

“It’s difficult. I mean, I want to be playing hockey,” Couture said in an interview with Sharks Audio Network’s Dan Rusanowsky on Wednesday. “It’s what I’ve done for almost all my life, so not being able to the last 15 months has been difficult. But, I mean, the human body can only do so much at some point.

“We’re trying to attack this thing with different types of rehab, and maybe something will click here.”

Couture, 35, is entering his 16th NHL season and sixth as the team’s captain. He is fifth on the Sharks’ all-time list with 933 career games and is fourth all-time with 701 points.

Vlasic, 37, is entering his 19th NHL season, all with the Sharks, and Mukhamadullin is thought to have an outside chance of making the team’s 23-man roster to start the year.

The 22-year-old Mukhamadullin, one of the key pieces the New Jersey Devils acquired in the Timo Meier trade in 2023, is entering his second full season in San Jose after playing almost all of last year with the Barracuda.