Nabokov released by SKA contract, now a free agent

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:I think we should nab him if it's 1.5 or less. He's an elite regular season goalie. I'll take my chances should we make the playoffs.

Totally agree except on price tag. No risk really. No one is expecting us to make the playoffs and if we do there's no expectation of a deep playoff run so it makes sense to me.

I think I'd offer more than 1.5 though. Chances are another team will offer more. Give Nabokov a 2 year deal, re-sign Elliott and by the time Nabby's deal is over Lehner will be ready. Nabokov will put butts in the seats as he gives Sens fans a false sense of having a better team due to improved position in the standings this year and even better next season.

although when Nabby sh!ts the bed, you're off to the Brick to get a new one.....

SpezDispenser wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:Nabby will steal us some games for sure and will be exciting to watch. That alone will put more butts in the seats and will give Melnyk some playoff dates. It also provides a winning environment and a bit of a safety net so the young players can learn. A 2 year deal is about perfect because it gives Cowen next season to make some terrible rookie mistakes and not have them all cost us goals as he grows and improves overall.

I'd do 1.5 X 2 for sure. He'd never take a multi-year deal for that price, would he? I'd be all over that personally. This team is fragile in the biggest way, adding a star goalie isn't a bad idea.

I wouldn't do more than 2 years anyway. Would he take 1.5 though? Would that be high enough that other teams wouldn't put a waiver claim on him?

You have Nabby for the rest of this season, he gets you in to the 8th spot and maybe we make it a 7 game series or surprise and get out of round one. Next season we finish top 5 and our young players are allowed to make mistakes without it costing us games and then the year after that Lehner and Elliott are ready to take the team over. Of course it depends a lot on how Foligno, Regin and Karlsson are progressing and on what kind of trades and FA signings the Sens make but I think 2 years is perfect. A third would be nice if you think Elliott - Lehner isn't a good tandem.

Number Twenty Nine wrote:
although when Nabby sh!ts the bed, you're off to the Brick to get a new one.....

Usually that's in the playoffs, isn't it? I'll take just getting to the playoffs right now.

Number Twenty Nine wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:I think we should nab him if it's 1.5 or less. He's an elite regular season goalie. I'll take my chances should we make the playoffs.

Totally agree except on price tag. No risk really. No one is expecting us to make the playoffs and if we do there's no expectation of a deep playoff run so it makes sense to me.

I think I'd offer more than 1.5 though. Chances are another team will offer more. Give Nabokov a 2 year deal, re-sign Elliott and by the time Nabby's deal is over Lehner will be ready. Nabokov will put butts in the seats as he gives Sens fans a false sense of having a better team due to improved position in the standings this year and even better next season.

although when Nabby sh!ts the bed, you're off to the Brick to get a new one.....

Are you under some sort of illusion that the Sens will have better playoff success or even make the playoffs without him?

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I wouldn't do more than 2 years anyway. Would he take 1.5 though? Would that be high enough that other teams wouldn't put a waiver claim on him?

You have Nabby for the rest of this season, he gets you in to the 8th spot and maybe we make it a 7 game series or surprise and get out of round one. Next season we finish top 5 and our young players are allowed to make mistakes without it costing us games and then the year after that Lehner and Elliott are ready to take the team over. Of course it depends a lot on how Foligno, Regin and Karlsson are progressing and on what kind of trades and FA signings the Sens make but I think 2 years is perfect. A third would be nice if you think Elliott - Lehner isn't a good tandem.

I'm thinking we're the waiver claim. Cuss it, this is a great regular season goalie and Leclaire is habitually injured - even if he wasn't, Nabokov is clearly an upgrade over what we have now.

I'm not sure about a top 5 finish next year Clutchie, although I appreciate your enthusiasm.

The team won't be playing scared in front of their goalies and will be able to win a few games only scoring 1 or 2 goals though. We'll also see a fair bit of change by next season that should help.

I'll preface my comments by saying that I don't think Ottawa should do it.

If I'm Ottawa I don't offer him a contract. If you do, then you have to have him clear through waivers and risk someone else plucking him at the contract value you negotiated.

I would wait for another team to make the offer and then if it falls in your price range I would put in a waiver request. There would only be one of seven teams (as of this morning) that would have a higher waiver priority than Ottawa. The Islanders, New Jersey, Toronto, Florida, Edmonton, Buffalo and Carolina are all teams that have a higher waiver priority. I don't see the Islanders, Toronto, Edmonton, New Jersey, Buffalo or Carolina making a waiver offer, so that leaves Florida.

That's the only team I see putting in a request to trump Ottawa

Why don't you think Ottawa should do it Dawg's wife?

SpezDispenser wrote:I think we should nab him if it's 1.5 or less. He's an elite regular season goalie. I'll take my chances should we make the playoffs.

You'd have to sign him to a pretty prohibitive deal to ensure he clears waivers then clear that cap space through a trade or waiving someone else. I'm guessing a 2.5m cap hit for 2 years at least.

Perhaps there's some takers in a deal involving Kuba? Seriously though I think it means Leclaire would need to be waived and I'm not sure Murray gets to waive another goalie.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:Perhaps there's some takers in a deal involving Kuba? Seriously though I think it means Leclaire would need to be waived and I'm not sure Murray gets to waive another goalie.

I think the easy way is to trade Leclaire or Elliott and lube to Florida for Vokoun. Make no mistake, there will be no tanking in Ottawa.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:Perhaps there's some takers in a deal involving Kuba? Seriously though I think it means Leclaire would need to be waived and I'm not sure Murray gets to waive another goalie.

I think the easy way is to trade Leclaire or Elliott and lube to Florida for Vokoun. Make no mistake, there will be no tanking in Ottawa.

That is why I think Melnyk pushes for a Nabokov signing personally. It costs him some money in the minors by waiving Leclaire but it doesn't cost roster assets. It also gives him a good chance of increasing attendance as we all know Nabokov is a great regular season goalie.

SpezDispenser wrote:

Number Twenty Nine wrote:
although when Nabby sh!ts the bed, you're off to the Brick to get a new one.....

Usually that's in the playoffs, isn't it? I'll take just getting to the playoffs right now.

and the epic fail at the Olympics.

Hmm 35-year old Russian available.

I'm sure BM is on top of it already

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

Number Twenty Nine wrote:

Cap'n Clutch wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:I think we should nab him if it's 1.5 or less. He's an elite regular season goalie. I'll take my chances should we make the playoffs.

Totally agree except on price tag. No risk really. No one is expecting us to make the playoffs and if we do there's no expectation of a deep playoff run so it makes sense to me.

I think I'd offer more than 1.5 though. Chances are another team will offer more. Give Nabokov a 2 year deal, re-sign Elliott and by the time Nabby's deal is over Lehner will be ready. Nabokov will put butts in the seats as he gives Sens fans a false sense of having a better team due to improved position in the standings this year and even better next season.

although when Nabby sh!ts the bed, you're off to the Brick to get a new one.....

Are you under some sort of illusion that the Sens will have better playoff success or even make the playoffs without him?

not at all - I said at the bieginning of the season I thought Ottawa would miss this year. I'm just trying to point out through my usual colourful way that he sags in large games.

Hoags wrote:Hmm 35-year old Russian available.

I'm sure BM is on top of it already

he does have a penchant for middle aged Russian stars, doesn't he....... (he wanted Federov at one time too)

Brian Murray also likes the reduced produce rack at Loblaws. Nothing like getting a bunch of 1/2 black bananas for $0.29 to make Brian's weekend...

Someone remind me again: how many games has our goaltending cost us this season? One? And how many games has it kept us in when we had no business being in them? Half of them?

Goaltending is not the problem in OTT. Can't imagine why the GM is looking to fix what isn't broken.

Next.