Kontinental Hockey League takes Evgeni Nabokov from San Jose Sharks
Defensemen were all anyone was looking for after free agency began this July. Goaltenders did not feature prominently enough in the minds of general managers trying to gear up for the next season. 2009-10 was a bad season to enter free agency for a goaltender. So when San Jose Goaltender, Evgeni Viktorovich Nabokov, became a free agent this summer he did not get the kind of attention he wanted or was used to, except from Russia. The Russian signed a 4 year 24 million dollar deal in the Kontinental Hockey League’s franchise, The SKA St. Petersburg.
Nabokov played for the first time in the NHL for the San Jose Sharks and never looked back. Winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as the Rookie of the Year, Nabokov’s flying start with the Sharks earned him a position on the Sharks roster that he kept for the next ten seasons. Over the course of those seasons, he led the San Jose Sharks in almost all goaltending categories, including wins and shutouts. He averaged 43.6 wins a season for the Sharks in the past three seasons. Nabokov has been a pivotal part of the Sharks.
So much so that when the Sharks decided to let go of Nabokov, they released an unusual public explanation. It is not you, it is me they said and they were not just saying that. Speaking of Nabokov, the Sharks general manager, Doug Wilson, said that "Nabby" had been a major part of the Sharks and his role in their successes was central. "This decision boils down to a dedication of dollars in a salary cap system and under this system, teams can't keep everyone,” Doug said. In letting go Nabokov, the Sharks were able to keep a few good, less pricey options and with that, Nabokov’s career with the NHL ended, but he did not know it yet.
When Nabokov entered free agency he must have been expecting someone to sign the highly talented goaltender but no one did, until the SKA knocked. Owned by the president of Gazprom, the SKA offered Nabokov what would be very hard to come by in the NHL. No surprise then that Nabokov took the offer. His agent confirmed on Wednesday that Nabokov will be heading for Russia in August. The four year contract means that in all likelihood, the 34 year old, will not be playing with the NHL again. In the fight for talent between the KHL and the NHL, the KHL has the last laugh in this round.
The negotiations for Nabokov were first reported to have been concluded by Monday, but those rumours were struck down by SKA president, Alexander Medvedev himself. The negotiations continued into Monday and no agreement was reached on Tuesday either. One of the things that Nabokov had reservations about was his family. He said that he will not make a decision like that if he did not have the support of his family. “They supported me 100 percent,” he said and this support was one of the most important factors contributing towards his decisions.
Nabokov is big news in Russia. The sport has increasingly been gaining popularity in Russia since KHL was set up in 2008. The fact that the SKA has been able to sign Nabokov for a long term deal pays testimony to the trend. It works both ways, as the KHL’s popularity rises, they can sign more high profile NHL players and as they sign more players, the popularity of the sport in turn increases again.
The popularity of the sport is certainly going to get a leg up if the rumours in recent Russian publications have any truth to them. They were right when they first speculated Nabokov’s return to Russia but this time the Russian SKA is gunning for is Ilya Kovalchuk, the highlight of this year’s free agency. It was reported that SKA had offered the Russian 9 million dollars a season over the course of many years, trumping comfortably what the New Jersey Devils had offered him. SKA spokesman confirmed that they have been talking to Kovalchuk but did not say how close they were to an agreement.
Tags: