MacK_Attack

I would think the Isles will move to trade Nabokov after July 1st, once the waiver issue is over and he has a dirt-cheap contract for 2011/12.

Correct. If the Islanders keep Nabokov suspended into the summer (no reason for them not to), it's very likely the NHL will force him to honour the contract he has before letting him become a UFA.

No, the NMC was there to prevent a claiming team from turning around and trading Nabokov (assuming nobody else claimed him). An NMC does not give the player the choice to report or not. All a NMC does is force the team to seek the permission of the player in order to be traded or waived. A player can choose not to report regardless of the clauses in his contract.

Unfortunately, I think this will come down to what the NHL's lawyers feel is being set here as far as a precedent goes.

Loophole? What loophole? The contract had to be in place for him to be placed on waivers. A player can't be on waivers as a free agent.

It is against the rules, that's why he'd be suspended without pay. The issue is whether the NHL would force him to honour his contract, either this year or next year or whenever. The precedent is there (Yashin, Radulov). I think it's a very real possibility that the NHL would toll the contract because I doubt they want to create an environment where it's okay for players to walk away from their contracts. I don't think they want guys sitting out (especially impending UFA's) if they are claimed on waivers or traded to teams they don't particularly want to play for.

Never said it did.

His contract is now held by the New York Islanders, which is a scenario that Nabokov knew he was getting into by leaving Russia and coming back to the NHL.

It's designed to keep teams from hiding players in other (lesser) professional leagues during the season, only to bring them in at the end. It's also to keep unrestricted free agents from using other professional leagues as a bargaining chip. I agree, it's not perfect, but I understand why it's there.

Doesn't matter. Snow & the Isles were and are perfectly within their rights to claim the player off waivers. Nabokov is NOT within his rights to refuse to honour a contract he signed. The NHL has precedent to force Nabokov to honour his contract, or at least refuse to allow him to become a free agent in July. See Senators vs. Yashin.

Unless the Isles go the route the Sens went with Yashin a few years back and ask the NHL to force Nabokov to honour the contract, either this year or next year.

Islanders.

The waiting game sucks, let's play Hungry Hungry Hippos.

Takes 10-15 mins for word to filter out. Though on this one, I suspect guys like Bob McKenzie will be all over it.

He's really down and out right now, I believe on pace to score just 28 goals. I guess you could pinpoint the Olympics as the point where his game started to slip a bit, but he's been completely different this year. Seems to be little worry about him bouncing back, but I never thought he'd ever struggle like this for so long.

Who on Earth was that? I don't think anybody thought that. I guess it was hoped he'd provide 3rd pairing depth and would eat up some powerplay time.

For the first time in a long time (read: ever), the Owen Sound Attack are competitive. Hopefully they do well. I remember when they made the conference finals when they were still the Platers and it was nuts around here. That's the best they've ever done since moving here from Guelph.

Cliff Fletcher put Larry Murphy in a position to fail. Murphy was brought in to anchor the defense, to play 25:00 a night in all situations and Murphy quite frankly wasn't that kind of guy anymore. Murphy was an easy target for fans who at that point, were getting used to winning again.

The Leafs were simply too beat up to get to the finals. As I recall, guys like Sundin, Tucker, Roberts, Mogilny were playing with major injuries and guys like Yushkevich, Renberg, Pilar, Valk were hurt for stretches. They ran out of gas. Had they somehow beat Irbe...I mean Carolina, I think it would have been an easy win for Detroit...4 games, maybe 5 max.

People generally loved Markov and his quirkiness. But I'd say most people are fans of Luke Schenn. Yushkevich was well liked, too. And Leetch. I don't hear many bad things about Gunnarsson, but his minutes are pretty limited.

Hmmm...Danny Markov?

Lebda, I believe, is on pace to have one of the worst +/- seasons in the history of the NHL. In any event, I suspect he'll be in the AHL by next season at the latest. Leafs have 6 wins in 21 games with him in the lineup. They're above .500 without him.

You can have Giguere.

Players claimed off waivers after the deadline can't play in the playoffs.

Brunnstrom is playing for the Marlies. Might get called up after the deadline when it's pointless to claim on re-entry waivers. Stefanovich is total headcase, great talent but zero heart. Burke has been looking to unload him for a long time.