Yes-bokov or No-bakov?

Okay, I'll admit. This probably isn't the most clever title, and it's a clear rip off of the Prodano/Nodano saga of the summer. But I'm standing by it.

Since about 10 am yesterday, Twitter, the blogosphere, and the entirety of Red Wings Nation has been absolutely on fire with the news of the Red Wings starting talks with, then signing, and lastly putting Nabokov on the waiver wire.

This has made people go absolutely insane, on one side, hoping he comes and does well to hoping he comes and fails, and on the other side, hoping he gets claimed by another team, prompting some of the worst trade propositions I've ever seen.

My take on this whole situation is about as clear as Nabokov's future.

If he clears waivers, and lands in Detroit, I think it's a great pick up. Just another clear cut reason why Ken Holland is the best GM in the league. It's funny how we can go half of a season without anyone even looking to pick Nabby up, to now that Ken's inked the deal, we have to worry about 27 or so teams thinking, "You know what, he's right!"
Ozzie's out. This is for sure. That cannot be changed.
And, as always with goalies, and especially with Osgood, when he comes back, we can't know for sure how he's going to play. With him not even slated to come back until March, that doesn't leave very much time for him to get his shit in gear for a playoff run. If we get Nabokov, I'm looking at two options.

Best case scenario: we'll have a (somewhat) proven goaltender who's got something to prove and could come and light the league on fire.
Worst case scenario: we get a cheap goalie who can possibly give Jimmy a few games' rest at a time to keep him fresher for a deep postseason run.

I don't see a bad side to this.

My problem with this deal comes if he gets snagged up off waivers. There are any number of teams looking at this signing and licking their chops to get a hold of him for the same reasons I listed before.

But what if we're dead set on getting Nabokov in Detroit? Who would we give up to get him here? WILL we give someone up to get him here?
I'm reminded of the Hasek for Kozlov trade. Can Ken pull out a little more magic to get our goalie for dirt cheap like he did then?

Or if he gets taken by some other team, do we pack it in and start looking elsewhere for a back up goalie? Do we try to snipe another veteran goalie? Do we just rely on our AHL goalies to back up Jimmy until Ozzie comes back and then roll the dice with him or ride Jimmy until his winged wheels fall off?


Everyone and their brother is speculating who would take Nabokov, and coming up with a crazy goaltender musical chairs game. I'm going to hold off on all that, because my crystal ball is in the shop. As of right now, I've heard 2 teams taking themselves out of the running:

Washington - via Matthew Barnaby's tweet--

Washington guaranteed will not be the one picking up nabokov! They are happy with their goaltending.

 New Jersey - via Rich Chere's tweet--

GM Lou Lamoriello says Devils will not put in a claim for goalie Evgeni Nabokov.

That leaves 25 teams. We have about 21 and a half hours before waiver claims close. We'll see what happens right around the game against Chicago.