Twitterville’s Coming and Going of a Goalie

So I admit it now right at the top, I started watching the fate of goalie Evgeni Nabokov late this morning and into the afternoon first and foremost as a fan of the New York Islanders.  But as most things in Isles Country go, nothing is simple and it became an interesting study in social media, rumor milling and interactions.

For those not glued to struggles of the Islanders or the fate of the 35 year old Russian in parlance of the Wall Street Journal here is the nuts and bolts graph: (Here’s a great write through on HI for more detail)

The Detroit Red Wings, in need of a back up goalie because Chris Osgood (a player in this tale) is injured signed Nabokov to what they hoped would be a contract no other team would want to take on.  The reason for this maneuver is because Nabokov would be exposed to entry waivers since he played part of the season in the Russian KLA league.  In the name of parity I guess, teams in reverse order of the standings can make a claim on any player–meaning more than 20 teams would have to pass on Nabokov before he would truly land with the Red Wings.  Now, in goal for the Islanders (as of today the third worst team in the league) you’ll find the oft injured Rick DiPietro, 20 year old Kevin Poulin (he played in juniors last season) and journeyman Nathan Lawson who incidentally is likely to join the ever growing list of injured Islanders.  So, the team clearly can use a goalie.  So they made the claim–meaning Nabokov, and the contract he negotiated with the Red Wings are now property of the New  York Islanders.

Over on Twitter, Newsday’s Katie Strang was the first to break the news–this was a little after 12 when the waiver period on Nabokov was up.  This was followed quickly by the TSN Twitter crew and others,  What followed from Islander’s nation–the likes of Nick McGuire, Kevin Schultz, and Nick Giglia (there were many others) was predictions on next moves-Poulin to Bridgeport, Lawson to IR etc.

Then slowly came word that Nabokov would refuse to report, and the already fired up Islander Twitter Nation went into full tilt.  Some great insight into this from Jeff Marek of the CBC-who harkened back to the showdowns Eric Lindros had with the former Quebec Nordiques and Joe Yeardon of Pro Hockey Talk weighed in with the showdowns between Glen Sather w/Reijo Ruotsalainen and Lou Nanne w/Ron Wilson, some good stuff and on target.

Then came the interesting distraction, the phantom Chris Osgood quote, saying he was surprised the Isles made the claim because they are just not a good team.  Now this was interesting because Osgood has always spoken highly of his year in Uniondale, he is known to be good friends with Isles GM Garth Snow and as someone who has interviewed him after wins and losses-he’s a good guy.

A turn out the quote was not direct, rather from a scrum of players and wrongly attributed to Osgood.

So the outcome of the day-news is fast and furious on Twitter, but like anything else, you need to know the source.