Veteran goaltender Evgeni Nabokov publicly stated yesterday that he plans on attending training camp with the New York Islanders next month---this after refusing to report to the club when the Isles claimed him off waivers last January. He was subsequently suspended the rest of the season.
This news has excited many fantasy hockey owners, who remember Nabokov as a top-tier goalie in fantasy hockey circles as recently as two years ago.
However, their enthusiasm should be tempered for several reasons.
- Nabokov is coming off a bad experience in the KHL a year ago, and hasn't played a professional game since being allowed by his KHL team to sign with Detroit as a free agent (he then failed to clear waivers as the Islanders claimed him).
- He just turned 36 years old.
- He will be playing for the Islanders, not the perennially-strong San Jose Sharks with whom he was a 40-win sure-thing for fantasy hockey owners. The Isles haven't exactly been helpful in lowering their goalies' GAA the past several years, so that's two big categories (wins and GAA) where Nabokov's numbers will not be as strong as in the past.
- Even if he plays well for the Isles, he will split time with Rick DiPietro between the pipes (should the oft-injured DP remain healthy all year) thus lowering his fantasy value even more.
Of course Nabokov could go to training camp, prove that he is of sound body and mind, and then be shipped elsewhere where his fantasy hockey value could be higher.
But it's hard to imagine Nabokov being any more than a second or third goalie, at best, on your fantasy hockey team this season. He is no longer the 70 games, 40 wins, 2.30 stud he was for many years.
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