5 BOROUGH SPORTS

UNIONDALE, N.Y. (AP)—Evgeni Nabokov left Russia for the chance to play with the Detroit Red Wings. Instead of landing in Hockeytown, the veteran goalie is taking an unexpected detour to Long Island. Nabokov lost his chance to join the Red Wings on Saturday, when he was claimed off waivers by the New York Islanders. While he might have dreamed of making a long playoff run with title-contending Detroit, Nabokov will now play out the string with New York, which entered Saturday with the third fewest points in the NHL. The Islanders nabbed him two days after the 35-year-old Nabokov signed a one-year contract with the Red Wings. He had spent this season with SKA St. Petersburg of the Russian KHL and hadn’t yet played for Detroit. The NHL’s collective bargaining agreement states that anyone who plays in a professional league before signing an NHL contract must clear waivers.

That’s what I’m talking about! Garth Snow is finally making some moves. This definitely puts the whole goalie situation to rest. Evgeni Nabakov is a veteran goalie who knows how to win in this league. Not only will he provide the Isles with some consistent goaltending, he will also mentor the young goalies Kevin Poulin and Nathan Lawson. If you compare Nabokov to Roloson, I would say Nabokov is slightly better. Plus, with the Roloson trade, the Isles received Ty Wishart, a solid young defenseman. For the first time this season, the Isles’ front office is starting to make sense. After a solid two goal performance by Michael Grabner last night in a 5-2 victory at Buffalo, the Islanders will take on the Sabres at home tomorrow afternoon at 3pm.

This entry was posted on January 22, 2011 at 3:55 pm and is filed under Islanders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.