- Sharks GM Mike Grier hired Nathan Airey as San Jose’s full-time emergency backup goaltender
- Airey went 12-3-2 with a 2.47 GAA for Minnesota in 2024-25 and won a share of the Big Ten
- Read below for the CBA rule that put a real goalie on every NHL staff
The Sharks found their emergency goalie, and he is not a beer leaguer with a day job.
San Jose general manager Mike Grier announced Friday that the club hired Nathan Airey as its full-time emergency backup goaltender for 2026-27. Airey just finished three seasons at the University of Minnesota, where he started for a Big Ten champion.
That job title is new. Under the collective bargaining agreement the NHL and NHLPA ratified last summer, clubs can no longer keep a name on a list and hope the guy picks up his phone. Every team now carries a full-time emergency replacement goaltender who travels with the group, and the league makes every one of them wear No. 00.
Airey’s best year came in 2024-25. He went 12-3-2 in 19 games with a 2.47 goals-against average and a .900 save percentage, opened the season 10-0-2, and won each of his first eight starts. Minnesota took a share of the Big Ten regular season title that winter.
His only college shutout came that same season against sixth-ranked Michigan. Take a look at how he closed the door:
Across 35 career NCAA games he finished 16-11-3 with a 2.86 GAA and a .893 save percentage. Last season he slid behind transfer Luca Di Pasquo and went 3-7-1 with a 3.39 GAA in 13 appearances.
Before all that, the Alberta native was named the BCHL’s top goaltender in 2022-23 with the Cranbrook Bucks. He graduated from Minnesota this spring with a degree in agricultural and food business management and made the Academic All-Big Ten team twice.
Grier moved on more than the net Friday. San Jose added amateur scouts Cameron Burt and Tyler Holske plus head physical therapist Scott Greenberg, and promoted Eric Pinsky and Josh Woodard up from the Barracuda.
Buffalo went down this road earlier in August, and the rest of the league has a few weeks to sort it out before camps open. Most clubs will end up with a career minor leaguer or a rink employee. San Jose got one who has beaten ranked teams.
