Evgeni Nabokov

Evgeni Viktorovich Nabokov (Евге́ний Ви́кторович Набо́ков; born July 25, 1975 in Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakh SSR, Soviet Union) is a Russian professional ice hockey goaltender who is currently a member of SKA St.Petersburg in the KHL, after having played 10 years with the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League.

Nabokov was selected by San Jose in the 1994 NHL Entry Draft (9th round, 219th overall). When he started playing in North America, he went by John, rather than Evgeni, fearing that English speakers would have a hard time pronouncing his name. However, this change did not last.

Over nine seasons in the NHL, all with San Jose, Nabokov has become the Sharks leader in nearly every goaltending category, including games played, wins, and shutouts.

Russia and minor league
San Jose Heads Scout Tim Burke saw Nabokov on an advertisement during his trip to Russia while Burke went to scout another player. Taken late in the ninth round, the Sharks had never seen him play; rather, they were more interested in the skill of Nabokov's father, a professional goaltender who played 18 years in Kazakhstan.

San Jose Sharks
After a few years in the American Hockey League (AHL), Nabokov played his first NHL game on January 1, 2000, stopping his first four shots when he replaced Steve Shields in a game against the Nashville Predators.

On January 19, 2000, Nabokov started in his first NHL game, playing against the Colorado Avalanche and famed goalie Patrick Roy. Impressively, Nabokov stopped all 39 shots he faced in a 0-0 tie. In his first three appearances, Nabokov stopped all but one of his first 58 shots, and the one goal he allowed was when Stéphane Matteau put the puck into an empty net while Nabokov was skating to the bench on a delayed penalty.

In the second game of the 2000–01 NHL season, Shields hurt his ankle, leaving San Jose without a number one goalie. Instead of giving the job to the very well known Miikka Kiprusoff, whom the Sharks brass considered the "goalie of the future," they left Kiprusoff in the AHL so he could get more experience, and gave the starting position to Nabokov, and he ran away with it, winning the Calder Memorial Trophy as the Rookie of the Year. Also, he played in the 2001 All-star game and took San Jose to the playoffs.

On March 10, 2002, he became the first netminder in NHL history to score a powerplay goal, doing so against the Vancouver Canucks.

Nabokov was considered one of the elite goaltenders in the NHL, and was often ranked as one of the top ten, if not top five goaltenders in the NHL by magazines like ESPN The Magazine and The Hockey News. However, the 2005–06 season was an off year for Nabokov. His save percentage of under .900 was a big concern to the team. More notably, he was relegated to the role of backup goaltender, in deference to a red-hot Vesa Toskala.

Nabokov is known for his excellent positioning and his ability to challenge shooters, but has been hampered by a groin injury. During the 2006–07 NHL season, Nabokov split the starting goaltending duties with Toskala. In the Sharks 82 games Nabokov started 49. Nabokov played all 5 games in the Western Conference Quarterfinals of the 2007 NHL playoffs, helping the Sharks defeat the Nashville Predators in 5 games.

During the first half of the 2007–08 NHL season, Nabokov started the first 43 games for the San Jose Sharks, however on January 13, 2008 in Anaheim he received his first day off when Thomas Greiss started his first NHL game.

Nabokov was recognized as one of the 'Three Stars' for the NHL in the last week of December 2007, along with Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals and Jaromír Jágr of the New York Rangers. In addition to that honor, Nabokov was named the “Sharks Player of the Month” by Seagate Technology in December. Since the 1996–97 season, Seagate Technology has recognized Sharks players who made contributions to further the team’s accomplishments and makes a donation of $2,500 to The Sharks Foundation on the players’ behalf. Nabokov holds the franchise-record for having won this award nine times.

Nabokov played in his second NHL All-Star Game on January 27, 2008. He stopped all eight shots that came at him in the second period, making it the first time since 2002 that a goalie has played a period where no goals were scored. The last goaltender to do so was fellow Russian goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. Nabokov secured the scoreless period when he blocked both of Ilya Kovalchuk’s shots in the last minute of the second period. On May 4, during game six of the Western Conference Semi-Finals of the 2008 NHL Playoffs, Nabokov made what has been called one of the best glove saves in decades, when he robbed Brad Richards of the Dallas Stars of a goal by sliding over from the other side of the post and gloved the puck. The save was reviewed for several minutes before making it clear Nabokov saved it before it went over the goal line. The game, which ended in a Dallas victory, went to 4th overtime and is now the 8th longest game in NHL history.

Nabokov recorded 41 wins for the Sharks during the 2008-09 NHL Season as the Sharks clinched first overall in the Western Conference and the League. Despite this, the Sharks were eliminated in the first round of the Playoffs by the 8th seed Anaheim Ducks, marking just the fourth time that a number 8 seed defeated a number 1 seed in the first round of the playoffs.

On October 17, 2009, Nabokov played in his 500th career game -all with San Jose- and stopped 31 shots in a 4-1 win over the New York Islanders.

On February 11, 2010, Nabokov stopped a career-high 50 shots en route to a 3-2 shootout victory against the Detroit Red Wings. This was also Nabokov's 11th consecutive road victory, a new NHL record.

On June 22nd, 2010, Sharks general manager Doug Wilson confirmed that Nabokov will not be returning to San Jose as a consequence of the NHL's salary cap. The decision received mixed reviews from Sharks fans as Nabokov has been a pivotal part of the team's regular season success and is considered to be one of the team's two greatest draft picks, along with Patrick Marleau. Unfortunately, Nabokov has also taken heat for being at the center of San Jose's playoff failures and with tough decisions looming in form of major free agents Marleau, Joe Pavelski, and Devin Setoguchi, Wilson felt that keeping Nabokov was less of a priority in a cap era.

Contracts
During the 2003 season, Nabokov held out, refusing to sign San Jose's proposed contract. After making only US$1 million for two years of stellar play, he wanted much more. He only missed five games before the Sharks met his demands, signing him to a two-year contract. When he finally signed a contract, he struggled to regain his form, as he had taken too long of a break. Later, he remarked that holding out was extremely unsportsmanlike, and that he would never do it again. He held to his word when he avoided arbitration by signing a two-year deal worth US $4.425 million per year in 2004, even when players comparable to him were getting more than US $6 million per year.

Despite his less-than-stellar play during the 2006 season, Nabokov was signed to a four-year contract extension worth roughly US$21.5 million. The contract had a no-trade clause that was activated on the condition that San Jose made the playoffs.

Following the end of the 2009-10 season Nabokov's extension expired and he became an unrestricted free agent. He was considered one of the "big names" available in free agency, however there was no significant interest shown in him while several teams went for less-expensive options, and on July 7th it was reported that he had signed a $24 million dollar contract with SKA St. Petersburg of the KHL, early reports varied on the length of the contract between 4 or 6 years.

International career
While he is a Russian citizen, he was previously denied permission by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) to play for Russia, because he had played for Kazakhstan as a 19-year-old in the 1994 World Championships. In 2005, Nabokov was granted permission to play for Russia in the IIHF World Championships, but declined. Nabokov had tried to gain the IIHF's permission to play for Russia at the 2002 Winter Olympics, but failed as there were regulations in place forbidding players from representing two different countries. He was finally allowed to play for Russia in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, after being given an exemption by the IIHF, and was named to the Russian team for the 2008 World Championships. During the 2008 World Championships he posted back-to-back shut-outs before defeating Canada 5-4 in the Gold Medal game. Team Russia won the 2008 IIHF World Championships, earning Nabokov his first gold medal.

He was named as the starting goaltender for Team Russia in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Played for Kazakhstan in:
 * 1994 World Championships

Played for Russia in:
 * 2006 Winter Olympics
 * 2008 World Championships (gold medal)
 * 2010 Winter Olympics

Awards and achievements

 * Calder Memorial Trophy - 2001
 * NHL All-Rookie Team - 2001
 * NHL First All-Star Team - 2008
 * NHL All-Star Game Appearances - 2001 and 2008
 * Best Goalkeeper - 2008 IIHF World Championship
 * Vezina Trophy Finalist - 2008
 * Set an NHL record on Feb. 11, 2010 at DET when he won his 11 consecutive road game (Nov. 21, 2009 vs. ANA - Feb. 11 2010 vs. DET)
 * Became only the second goalie to record 3 consecutive 40 win seasons on Mar. 27, 2010 vs. VAN