In an ideal scenario, the Tampa Bay Lightning likely envisioned Evgeni Nabokov providing veteran experience behind Ben Bishop, at least until Andrei Vasilevskiy was ready for the jump.
That just hasn’t been the case in reality, however, and the Lightning responded as such by placing him on waivers Sunday (according to a wide variety of reporters including Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman).
The team hasn’t officially backed that up yet, so we can’t be sure that Vasilevskiy, 20, will get the call to back up Bishop. That would certainly seem to be the logical case, especially since the promising prospect has three wins in four starts this season.
Hey, at least Bishop is playing extremely well:
Per Elias: Ben Bishop is 1st goalie to earn 8 consecutive home wins in 1 season for @TBLightning, passing J. Grahame's mark of 7 in '05-06.
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 1, 2015
Looking further, it’s difficult to shake the impression that Nabokov, 39, is approaching the end of the line.
The veteran netminder’s overall numbers are lousy (3-6-2 with a .882 save percentage). He hasn’t won since Dec. 11 and only saw the ice for two abbreviated appearances in January.
Nabokov floundered a bit in his third season with the New York Islanders in 2013-14, managing just a 15-14-8 record with a mediocre .905 save percentage. That disappointing output limited his offseason options to backup gigs, and now we’ll need to wait and see how many opportunities he gets going forward.
With #TBLightning recalling Andre Vasilevskiy, Evgeni Nabokov will be sent to @TheAHL if he clears waivers. Feeling is he may not report.
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) February 1, 2015
Of course, there’s always the chance a team scoops him up at full price and he shows that he still has something left in the tank ...