The Sharks got some quietly big goalie news on Sunday. Yaroslav Korostelyov, San Jose's 7th-round pick from the 2024 draft (194th overall), is terminating his contract with KHL powerhouse SKA St. Petersburg to join the Sharks organization, according to Daily Faceoff.
Yaroslav Korostelyov terminates KHL contract, will join Sharks organization https://t.co/PvDAwRN058
For a guy who was barely a blip on NHL Central Scouting's radar 2 years ago, this is a legitimate flex from the Sharks' scouting department. Korostelyov was unranked heading into the 2024 draft, and San Jose's own director of amateur scouting admitted at the time he was maybe the No. 2 or 3 goalie on their internal board. He went as the very last pick of the draft. That's the kind of pedigree that usually gets you a quiet developmental runway, not a headline.
Except Korostelyov went out and made that pick look like a steal. Playing for SKA's MHL (junior) squad in 2024-25, he posted a video-game-esque 1.53 GAA and a.936 save percentage across 27 games, tops among goalies who played 20-plus games in the league. Last season he kept rolling, going 14-5 with a.917 save percentage, a 2.22 GAA and 5 shutouts in 20 games. The catch is he's still got basically zero pro game action — just a single VHL appearance for SKA's affiliate — which is why goalie development timelines matter here.
That inexperience is exactly why walking away from a KHL deal is notable. Goalies are famously the slowest position to develop, and staying in Russia at a storied club like SKA would've meant a longer runway before real pressure. Instead, Korostelyov is choosing to jump straight into North American pro hockey, where the expectation is he lands with the Sharks' ECHL affiliate, the Wichita Thunder, rather than jumping all the way to the AHL's San Jose Barracuda.
It's a bet on himself, and on a Sharks front office that's been stacking young goaltending depth as it rebuilds. San Jose doesn't need him to be NHL-ready tomorrow, but a 21-year-old with these kinds of junior numbers walking away from a guaranteed KHL paycheck to grind in the ECHL says a lot about how highly both sides view the runway ahead.