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.
โI wouldnโt get my hopes too high; the contract is peanuts,โ one source said. โAnyone in need of a goaltender will put in a claim. Somebody in the West might say, โI donโt 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 signingโฆ
โHeโs nobodyโs player until noon on Saturday.โ
Hereโs what Mike Babcock had to say following the Wingsโ 4-3 overtime victory over the St. Louis Blues Thursday nightโฆ
โHeโs not our player, so when he becomes our player then Iโll talk about him,โ Babcock said. โIn the meantime, as an organization, even though weโve signed him, until he clears waivers and becomes a Red Wing thereโs no sense talking about him.โ
And like myself, many Wings players were kind of surprised by the moveโฆ
โThatโs out of my hands, thatโs up to management, what they think,โ goalie Jimmy Howard said. โIf he can help us, he can help us.โ
Kris Draper doubts that Nabokov will clear waivers.
โThat was a bit of a surprise, but thereโs still a long way in the whole process before that becomes a reality that heโs here,โ Draper said. โI donโt think thereโs too many teams who are going to be willing to help us out (by not claiming him).
โYou 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. Weโll have to see what the process is.โ
Holland wouldnโt 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 seasonโs end and that Howardโs knee injury isnโt 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 franchiseโs 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 havenโt 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 โfamily reasonsโ.
Source: Mlive.com
Wings sign Nabokov, now wait on the waiver process
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Create an account
Create an account
Welcome! Register for an account
A password will be e-mailed to you.
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.