Nabokov leaves the NHL, signs with KHL

[Guest mindfly]

So 24 year old German Greiss will be their no.1 goalie?

[Finnish Wing 110]

So 24 year old German Greiss will be their no.1 goalie?

They're probably rotating between Niitty and him.

[germanwing 154]

They're probably rotating between Niitty and him.

Hope for Greiss to get more starts now. He could be a No. 1 goalie in the NHL.

Minnesota signed Dennis Endras, another german goalie.

[dragonballgtz 273]

I guess teams don't want to spend $4m+ on goalies with the way the game is played now.

[Guest CaliWingsNut]

bu.... but.... Z won't be able to score on him there!

[wmubronco420 25]

And so begins the era of low-payed goalies. Hopefully, at least.

why does seeing players get paid less please you?

[GMRwings1983 8,803]

When stars leave to the KHL, this is far worse than having 3rd or 4th line euros doing it.

This is bad for the NHL, and it could get worse if Kovalchuk follows.

[CanadaBoy 151]

Hasek vs Nabokov in KHL finals.

You heard it here first folks!

[cusimano_brothers 1,655]

TSN is now on board; they changed their six to a four. Heads will roll!

[zata40 3]

When stars leave to the KHL, this is far worse than having 3rd or 4th line euros doing it.

This is bad for the NHL, and it could get worse if Kovalchuk follows.

Hey don't forget we got one of our stars back from the KHL this year......hudler

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

When stars leave to the KHL, this is far worse than having 3rd or 4th line euros doing it.

This is bad for the NHL, and it could get worse if Kovalchuk follows.

Yup.

This is a good example of the salary cap leading to less talent in the NHL. Hopefully it will remain a rare case.

EDIT: and off topic, who's the idiot who keeps rating all the threads one star?

Edited July 8, 2010 by haroldsnepsts

[stevie12 5]

TSN is now on board; they changed their six to a four. Heads will roll!

Here's the Link

[Echolalia 2,961]

why does seeing players get paid less please you?

Seeing goalies get paid less pleases me because it allows more cap space for talent on the ice, where its typically more entertaining. I've believed for a while that the differential between an elite goalie and an average goalie isn't accurately represented by the salary differences between the two, and with the success of low-salary goalies in the playoffs since the lockout, it seems GMs are starting to realize this too. Otherwise Nabby would have scored that 6M/year deal somewhere on this side of the planet.

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

why does seeing players get paid less please you?

More cap space, and less selfishness from greedy players.

[haroldsnepsts 4,826]

More cap space, and less selfishness from greedy players.

Because the owners are doing charity work?

Hockey players are entertainers. They're only getting paid that much because some idiot GM agreed to it.

[mjlegend 155]

Does this team get 110 points in the 2010-11 regular season with any combination of Greiss/Niittymaki?

[ ] Yes

[X] No

[Hockeytown0001 7,652]

No. Close, but not quite there.

[Finnish Wing 110]

I think Niittymaki/Greiss is better than Hawks' Niemi/Crawford. Our tandem is looking pretty good as we have Osgood as our backup. If Howard has a sophmore season we don't need to rely on a rookie like Crawford to get the job done.

[Yak19 303]

Nabokov to the KHL?

Nothing of value was lost

[T.Low 1,011]

Yup.

This is a good example of the salary cap leading to less talent in the NHL. Hopefully it will remain a rare case.

EDIT: and off topic, who's the idiot who keeps rating all the threads one star?

Does anyone else see the irony of the N. American hockey league using a centrally planned system (salary cap) and the Russian using more of a free market system for a team's roster based on supply and demand and simple cost/benefit projections?.

Sheesh. What's this country coming to?

[ami 273]

Does anyone else see the irony of the N. American hockey league using a centrally planned system (salary cap) and the Russian using more of a free market system for a team's roster based on supply and demand and simple cost/benefit projections?.

Sheesh. What's this country coming to?

Although, N.American hockey system is obviously moving out of free market system, it is a big fallacy to think of Russian system as a free market. Russia's 'demand' on free agents is fueled with money that earned somewhere else not in hockey (oil, local and federal budgeting, laundering, etc.). Same as US economy was fueled and overflowed with cheap money as Greenspan lowered interest rate in early 2000's. What that system eventually has produced? Bubbles and than ... bursts, collapses!

As to the question where this country is coming to? Pretty clear. Socialism. Meaning: wherever Russia and/or Germany were in 1930's. And the West is moving toward these targets since 1930's too (thanks to FDR and Hoover), with short stop in late 1970s/early 1980's with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

/back to hockey

let them (hockey players whatever their nationality is) go wherever they want to play, win or earn money. The less imposed restrictions or regulations, the better hockey we're going to witness.

[Finnish Wing 110]

Does anyone else see the irony of the N. American hockey league using a centrally planned system (salary cap) and the Russian using more of a free market system for a team's roster based on supply and demand and simple cost/benefit projections?.

Sheesh. What's this country coming to?

That doesn't mean anything. Salary cap is what makes this sport much more competitive and actually adds a new dimension to it. Without salary cap team's who are richer usually get the best players. Now, what's the point of that when basically none of the money they've got have come from hockey? It's all from some other business. Salary cap demands more skill from front office people and you can't just throw money around like you used to.

I don't see any political connection there.

[HankthaTank 1,100]

Does this team get 110 points in the 2010-11 regular season with any combination of Greiss/Niittymaki?

[ ] Yes

[X] No

Can't see it. They aren't going to be too laughable but we shall see. Greiss is still a bit of an unknown to me but so are all goaltenders.

[Wombat 26]

Does anyone else see the irony of the N. American hockey league using a centrally planned system (salary cap) and the Russian using more of a free market system for a team's roster based on supply and demand and simple cost/benefit projections?.

Sheesh. What's this country coming to?

All American sports tend to be socialist (drafts to benefit the weak, salary caps, revenue sharing, etc). European sports, especially soccer, tend to be capitalistic (no drafts, those with the most money buy the best players, etc). I definitely find it interesting how this is the case.

As to the question where this country is coming to? Pretty clear. Socialism. Meaning: wherever Russia and/or Germany were in 1930's. And the West is moving toward these targets since 1930's too (thanks to FDR and Hoover), with short stop in late 1970s/early 1980's with Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.

Germany in the 1930's was not socialist. It was a fascist state, which is essentially the polar opposite of socialism. Just because the Nazis had the word "Socialist" in their party name it does not make them actually socialists in belief and action. America is definitely not moving towards socialism; it could be inching towards European style social democracies but I doubt we'll reach that in any of our lifetimes.

To actually make this post somewhat hockey related... we'll see how long Nabby's new team and league exists. He may not be gone from the NHL for good. It sucks to see a talented goalie like him leave the NHL, but goalies have been overvalued for a long time. An elite guy that has a .93 and above save % might be worth $4M+, but these other guys below that are close to interchangeable and it seems a team is better served using that extra money for better defensive players or more goal scoring.