Last week the San Jose Sharks held their annual equipment sale. I was curious to see what would become of Evgeni Nabokov’s gear so I went to take a look…
Upon walking in the door the first item on display was a game-worn Nabokov mask. Pricetag? $5,000.00. Yes, the decimal is in the correct spot.
Marc-Andre Fleury returned to the Pittsburgh net tonight for the first time since injuring his groin a month ago, just one of many highly-paid #1 goalies who have missed significant playing time this season therefore thrusting his respective backup into a starting (and sometimes “starring”) role. What’s significant about that? Well for starters, never before has there been such a huge disparity between the salaries of A-level goalies vs. everyone else. Until this past week Danny Saborin has kept the Penguins in each of their games compiling a 6-6-1 record with a .911 SV%. Are those the numbers of a number one? Not really, but the Pens have remained within striking distance of the Rangers and Flyers which is exactly what teams should expect from backups, i.e. give them a chance to win when the number one is out. For 1/10th the cost ($512k vs. $5M for Fleury) Saborin did his job. Here’s a look at some of the other backups finding themselves with a chance to play in the limelight this seaon.
Tim Thomas shooting for the number one position.
