Philadelphia Acquires Evgeni Nabokov
With a strong free agent goalie class and Michael Leighton’s expiring contract, it seemed almost inevitable that the Philadelphia Flyers would be acquiring a new goalkeeper sometime during this off season. However, they acted faster than had anticipated and have signed veteran keeper Evgeni Nabokov from the San Jose Sharks.
In exchange for Nabokov, the Sharks obtain the Flyers’ 2011 seventh-round pick, conditional on the Flyers signing Nabokov before his contract expires on July 1.
Although Nabokov’s contract currently has a no-trade clause, it has been reported that since the Sharks have already announced their intentions to let him enter free agency Nabokov has waived the clause if a deal can be reached with Philadelphia.
If the Flyers do sign the 35-year-old Nabokov, they might alleviate the inconsistency that has plagued their goalkeeping situation. Last season, the team started a total of seven goalies throughout the season. It’s possible that the inexperience of the goalie they settled on in the playoffs, Michael Leighton, allowed Patrick Kane’s Stanley Cup winning goal to trickle in. The Flyers desperately yearn to achieve the glory of their mid-1970s championship winning teams, and the presence of a strong keeper like Nabokov would be a major catalyst in propelling the Eastern Conference champions to victory in the Stanley Cup.
While he may be getting older, Nabokov is a wise signing attempt for the Flyers. He has won at least 41 games in his previous three seasons, including 44 last year. In 2009-10, Nabokov also had a very respectable goals-against average of 2.4, with a 0.922 save percentage. In his ten seasons with the Sharks, Nabokov has consistently performed during the regular reason, but Philadelphia is risking a lot of money on a player who has been entirely unable to delivery in the post season.
Nabokov is 40-38 in the playoffs with the consistently top-ranked Sharks, and though the team is packed with talent, they have been unable to get past the second round of the playoffs more than once in the last five seasons.
The Flyers have also shown their commitment to Johan Backlund, their young Swedish goalkeeper, by just adding two years to his contract. At 35, Nabokov will not have too many years left in him, but under his tutelage Backlund could develop into their next franchise goalie. As many teams know, one of the benefits of an elite keeper is the training and expertise that trickles down to the backups.
While in theory this deal makes sense, Philadelphia still has to actually get Nabokov to sign with them before July 1. Their last attempt at signing an acquired expiring contract does not bode well. The Flyers acquired Nashville Predators’ defenceman Dan Hamhuis, but as possibilities of agreeing on a contract dwindled, Phili had to send him to the Pittsburgh Penguins for only a third-round pick.
The only perplexing aspect of this deal is the San Jose Sharks’ receiving a pick rather than the expiring contract of Philadelphia’s Michael Leighton. Such a deal would have been extremely useful to both teams. Phili would have an attempt to sign the veteran established goaltender they seek, and San Jose would have gotten the opportunity to acquire a young, inexpensive yet proven ‘tender.
Leighton seems like he would be a perfect match in the direction Sharks GM Doug Wilson is attempting to take the team. His contract would be relatively inexpensive, allowing the Sharks to bolster their defensive line following the retirement of Rob Blake. This ideology of strong defence and relatively affordable goalkeepers worked well for the Chicago Blackhawks as they won the Stanley Cup with Antti Niemi in goal. Niemi’s salary for the season was under $900,000. Given Leighton’s current salary of $600,000, it seems like he would have modelled perfectly into a similar situation.
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