Flyers Essentially Acquire The Rights To Nabokov For At Least A Week In Verbal Agreement With Sharks

I am a frequent critic of Paul Holmgren, but I will give credit where credit is due. Now I am not a huge Nabokov fan and am not thrilled about the prospect of getting him, but to acquire his rights for almost nothing, as the Flyers have in fact done so, is pretty ingenious. From CSN Philly's Tim Panaccio

According to league sources, the Flyers have a verbal agreement in place with the San Jose Sharks to fork over a seventh-round pick next season if they can sign San Jose’s Evgeni Nabokov before July 1, when he becomes an unrestricted free agent.

Don Meehan, the agent who represents Nabokov, told CSNPhilly.com earlier that his client’s no-trade clause is not an issue. San Jose obviously has given the Flyers permission to get a deal done and Meehan is willing to engage the Flyers ahead of July 1.

Make no mistake about it, Evgeni Nabokov, even at 34 going on 35, is an improvement over Michael Leighton. He is a solid regular season goaltender, but he has a nasty habit of coming up real small in big games. While it certainly was not the first time it happened, you can look at Russia's quarterfinal match against Canada in the 2010 Olympics as the most prominent example of Nabokov's smallness in big games. All that being said and no disrespect to San Jose and Team Russia, but Evgeni Nabokov was never behind a defense as good as the Flyers defense is now with the likes of Chris Pronger, Kimmo Timonen, and Matt Carle.

Just because the Flyers basically have Nabokov's rights, though, does not mean he will be a Flyer this coming season. The Flyers have his rights until July 1 when he becomes an unrestricted free agent if he goes unsigned. If the Flyers sign him between now and July 1, they will only owe San Jose a 7th round draft pick in the 2011 Draft.

Again, I am not thrilled about Nabokov and would like the Flyers to be thinking more long term than this, but if the Flyers are dead set about getting Nabokov, this is most certainly the best way to go about it.

(See the below post for the World Cup Round of 16 Open Thread)