Evgeni gets picked up off waivers by Islanders, but is refusing to play

Freep - The Red Wings lost out on adding Evgeni Nabokov to their lineup, but had several good reasons for taking the gamble. The New York Islanders, who had the third-worst record in the NHL as of Saturday morning, got Nabokov after putting in a claim for the veteran goaltender by the noon deadline. The Wings agreed to a one-year, $570,000 deal with Nabokov Thursday night, but because he began the season playing in Russia, Nabokov had to be exposed on waivers to the NHL’s other 29 teams.

Well, it was nice while it lasted. It wasn't likely that Nabby would get through waivers but it was definitely worth a shot. The fact that the Isles stepped up and grabbed him was no surprise. What I didn't see coming was that Evgeni has reportedly refused to play for the Islanders. Here is TSN's Bob McKenzie with the breakdown of what might happen from here on out...

-- If the team that claims and is awarded Nabokov decides to subsequently trade or assign the player, they must:

a) put Nabokov back on waivers again, where any team, including the Detroit Red Wings, could then claim him. Again, priority claim belongs to the team lowest in the standings. Only if Nabokov clears waivers would the team holding his rights be able to trade him.

b) get Nabokov's permission to put him on waivers and/or trade him as Nabokov, once he is a member in good standing of the NHL, has a No Movement Clause in his contract.

Only if those conditions are satisfied could Nabokov end up up with a team other than the one who claimed him on waivers from DET.

The bottom line here is as follows:

-- there is no way for DET to make any orchestrated "arrangements" to get Nabokov back from the team that claims him unless Detroit is successful in claiming him on waivers the second time around. If any team lower than Detroit in the standings put in a claim, Nabokov would go to that team.

-- there is no way for a team who claims and gets Nabokov to easily flip him in a trade as he must go through waivers again, giving every team including Detroit an opportunity to claim for nothing more than the set waiver price, which is $3,375.

So any team that claims Nabokov on waivers is likely to do so for the purpose of having him in their lineup for the balance of the season as Nabokov's NMC effectively controls when or if he moves again. The only way the team that claims and is awarded Nabokov tomorrow can subsequently get rid of Nabokov is with the player's permission.

The general feeling within the NHL community is that Nabokov will not clear waivers tomorrow. That his relatively low annual salary -- $570,000 is only $70,000 more than the league minimum -- and favorable cap hit will entice teams to perhaps bring him in to replace a less experienced backup goalie who in some cases is already making more than $570,000.

But given the waiver regulations on Nabokov and his no move clause, the team that claims him is likely to be committed to Nabokov for the balance of the season because he may not necessarily be easy to get rid of.

Bottom line, there is no chance any playoff bound Western conference team would let Nabokov get through waivers a second time. If he refuses to play for them too then they'd just eat his contract in order to keep him from ending up in Detroit.