- The New York Times: Shortly after being claimed by the Islanders on Saturday, GM Garth Snow called up Evgeni Nabokov, “Snow said when he identified himself on the phone, Nabokov immediately hung up.” Nabokov agent later talked to Snow, and said he didn’t realize it was him, he had 2 or 3 phones on the go with the media calling. Nabokov spoke with Snow on Sunday during the Isles game, where he was listed as a healthy scratch.
“I think I’m going to stay home for now, I’m sticking with my decision,” Nabokov said Sunday. “It’s nothing against the Islanders and their organization. It’s nothing to do with that. It’s just that I’m at the point in my career where I want to help a team win in the playoffs. I don’t see how I could help the Islanders or what I could do for them. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to me. And I hope they understand that.
“I was surprised they picked me up. I was like, ‘Wow, what’s the point?'”
- Stephan Harris of the Boston Herald: Marc Savard will be evaluated today to see if he suffered another concussion from the Matt Hunwick hit on Saturday night. “He still had those headaches (yesterday) morning. They haven’t deemed it anything yet. . . . They’re going to check him out to see if it’s real serious. It didn’t seem serious. This was a cautionary move on our part that everyone agreed on.”
- Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News: Heika debunks a rumor coming from Eklund. He talked to a couple people associate with the Stars and they said it was ridiculous. It had the Stars sending Brad Richards, Jamie Benn and Ondrej Roman to the Maple Leafs for Nazem Kadri, Clarke MacArthur, Kris Versteeg and a conditional pick. Heika brings up 3 points; why would Richards waive his no-trade to go to a team 12 points out of the playoffs, why wouldn’t the Leafs wait until after the season to acquire his rights, and Jamie Benn may be the last player the Stars would want to trade.
- Larry Brooks of the NY Post: The Rangers are in need of blueliner who can ‘unload bombs’. Teams are dropping off the points and clogging the middle as there isn’t much threat from backend.
- Adrian Dater of the Denver Post: “there’s no question in my mind Forsberg is going to play again in the NHL, and 99.9 percent it’ll be for the Avs. I’m totally convinced of it now, after observing Foppa today and talking with plenty of people who know him well.” Dater tweets, “My informed hunch: Foppa plays Feb. 3 against Minny at home. Barring setbacks of course”
- Lance Hornby of the Toronto Sun: The Maple Leafs have called up goalie James Reimer yesterday and he’ll likely play tomorrow night. Jonas Gustavsson may be sent down the Marlies on a conditioning stint, he wouldn’t have to clear waivers. If Gustavsson doesn’t play in the next couple games, and with the All-Star coming up, Gustavsson will have only played once in a month, and let in 6 goals in that games against the Rangers.
- Andy Strickland of True Hockey: Blues forward Andy McDonald has been skating for a week and will accompany the team on their 2 game road trip. He won’t play in either game but will begin practicing with the team. McDonald is recovering from a concussion.
- David Pagnotta via twitter: The Sharks were one of the teams that put a waiver claim on Nabokov.
- Jimmy Murphy via twitter: There may not be a trade pending, but Bruins defenseman Mark Stuart’s name has been brought up.
