When San Jose Sharks prospect Yaroslav Korostelyov terminated his contract with SKA St. Petersburg last month, the expectation was that he was going to make the jump to North America for the 2026-27 season. That's exactly what happened, but maybe not in the way some expected. Rather than signing an entry-level contract with the Sharks, the 21-year-old netminder has signed a standard player contract with their ECHL affiliate, the Wichita Thunder.
The signing of Korostelyov comes just over a week after the Thunder traded away the rights to another goaltender, Roddy Ross. It won't be easy for the young Russian to get playing time at the ECHL level either, as he'll likely be battling with Matt Davis for playing time when the season gets underway, unless the Barracuda opt to keep Davis along with their two veterans, Eric Comrie and Ilya Samsonov.
Korostelyov was dominant during his time in Russia's MHL, registering a 46-18-3 record in 74 appearances. He also had a 2.29 goals against average and a .926 save percentage while recording 12 shutouts.
The Sharks organization has quite a bit of goaltending depth, which could make things tough for Korostelyov in his first North American season. Now, we'll just have to wait and see how quickly he can adapt.
