Is Evgeni Nabokov seeing too much time between the pipes?  San
Jose Sharks goaltender Evgeni Nabokov has my vote for Team MVP
this season.  Going into Thursday's game against Nashville,
Nabokov will bring a .927 SV% to the table, good for third in
the league amongst qualifying starters. He sees an average of
31.3 shots per night, or in other words, the Sharks defense is
ranked 22nd in the league in terms of this metric. For all of
the defensive issues and miscues that have plagued San Jose
since the outset of this season, Nabokov has been steady and
reliable; a presence between the pipes that has masked those
lapses and kept the team in the business of winning hockey
games. He may not be the sole reason the Sharks have been
flirting with the top of the Western Conference standings all
season, but he definitely is the biggest.  Which makes it all
the more important that he is handled correctly by the coaching
staff. And in my opinion, he hasn't been. This is what I had to
say at the beginning of the year when