Thursday the Wings announced they had come to terms on a contract with free agent goalie Evgeni Nabokov for the remainder of this season.
Before the veteran goalie becomes a Wing however, he (Nabokov) must first pass through waivers which very well could prevent him from ever putting on a Wings sweater.
Nabokov, who is 35, will officially be placed on waivers at noon on Friday and remain on there until noon on Saturday. During this time any team can put a claim in on Nabokov.
Now given the contract that Nabokov signed which is for one year at $570,000 which prorated amounts to $250,000 for the rest of the season Nabokov all of a sudden becomes very attractive to other teams in need of a goalie. Even the Wings know that the chances seems slim that Nabokov is brought on board.
โ€œI wouldnโ€™t get my hopes too high; the contract is peanuts,โ€ one source said. โ€œAnyone in need of a goaltender will put in a claim. Somebody in the West might say, โ€˜I donโ€™t want Detroit to pick him up.'โ€
According to Ansar Khan of Mlive.com, Wings GM Ken Holland declined to comment any further on the signingโ€ฆ
โ€œHeโ€™s nobodyโ€™s player until noon on Saturday.โ€
Hereโ€™s what Mike Babcock had to say following the Wingsโ€™ 4-3 overtime victory over the St. Louis Blues Thursday nightโ€ฆ
โ€œHeโ€™s not our player, so when he becomes our player then Iโ€™ll talk about him,โ€ Babcock said. โ€œIn the meantime, as an organization, even though weโ€™ve signed him, until he clears waivers and becomes a Red Wing thereโ€™s no sense talking about him.โ€
And like myself, many Wings players were kind of surprised by the moveโ€ฆ
โ€œThatโ€™s out of my hands, thatโ€™s up to management, what they think,โ€ goalie Jimmy Howard said. โ€œIf he can help us, he can help us.โ€
Kris Draper doubts that Nabokov will clear waivers.
โ€œThat was a bit of a surprise, but thereโ€™s still a long way in the whole process before that becomes a reality that heโ€™s here,โ€ Draper said. โ€œI donโ€™t think thereโ€™s too many teams who are going to be willing to help us out (by not claiming him).
โ€œYou just have to look down the hall here (at the Blues) and see what happens with a team signing a player and him going through waivers. Weโ€™ll have to see what the process is.โ€
Holland wouldnโ€™t elaborate on why he is pursuing Nabokov and only said that he is happy with where the goaltending is at right now. Judging from the contract that Nabokov signed it would now seem that Osgood would be coming back by seasonโ€™s end and that Howardโ€™s knee injury isnโ€™t serious.
Nabokov spent his entire 10 year NHL career with the San Jose Sharks going 293-178-29-37 (W-L-T-OTL) with 50 shutouts. According to Khan he is the franchiseโ€™s all-time leader in games, wins and shutouts and has a career goals-against average of 2.39 and save percentage of .912.
Critics of Nabokov have set their sights on the fact that the Sharks havenโ€™t advanced past the Western Conference finals with Nabokov in goal. Nabokov is 40-38, with a 2.29 GAA and .913 save percentage in the postseason.\
Nabokov was not brought back with the Sharks due to salary cap restraints and was made a free agent. After not signing with any NHL team he went back home to Russia to play in the KHL with SKA St. Petersburg where he signed a four year contract at $24 million dollars. SKA St. Petersburg ended up terminating his contract due to โ€œfamily reasonsโ€.
Source: Mlive.com
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