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Early this week the news surfaced that the estranged New York Islanders' goaltender Evgeni Nabokov resurfaced in Russia. According to Vladislav Tretiak, Nabokov was training in Moscow behind closed doors the entire week last week. Nabokov's goal is to play in the World Championships this year in Slovakia.

Nabokov terminated his contract with KHL's SKA St. Petersburg late last year due to "family reasons". It is, therefore, ironic that when Nabokov came back to Russia, he trained with SKA's goaltending coach.

As I mentioned yesterday in Dreger Report on TSN, Nabokov is expected to play tomorrow for Team Russia against Team Belarus.

"I am not going to rate my conditioning in percentages from the optimal. I need to get more practice. The more of it, the better it is. So, I am just going to come out and play against Belarus," Nabokov told Pavel Lysenkov of Sovetsky Sport in an interview yet to be published in Russia.

As you may recall, after bolting from the KHL, Nabokov signed to a

106342311Never a dull moment in the KHL, it seems.

During the seventh playoff game between Jaromir Jagr's Avangard Omsk and Sergei Fedorov's Metallurg Magnitogorsk, which Metallurg won to advance to the next round to play Alexander Radulov's Salavat Yulaev, the news surfaced that Avangard fired its coach before the second period of that Game 7.

Avangard claimed that this was not the case and that Raimo Summanen, the coach, was having "health issues" before the game. The team said he was not fired at all, but sent to Finland for medical checkups.

NHL fans may remember Summanen from his days in the NHL with the Edmonton Oilers. Summanen has a 1984 Stanley Cup ring and can actually be seen on the first Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup-winning picture, even though his name was not engraved on the Cup because he did not officially qualify, having played only two regular-season and five playoff games for the Oilers.

Now, after his departure, Avangard players shed some light on their now former head coach,

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The talk about the NHL opening the 2011-2012 season in Russia has been going on for some time.

A few months ago, KHL President Alexander Medvedev announced that it was a certainty that the Washington Capitals would be one of the teams visiting Russia in the fall, with the New York Rangers in the mix as well.

Today, it appears that the deal is dead.

KHL President Alexander Medvedev told Russia Today TV Channel:

"It looks like that we will not see such matches next season. And we have only one reason that the NHL due to their, sort of say, exclusively business-like approach…"

The interview:

Months worth of discussions proved futile. At one point the optimism was so high that a New York Rangers representative traveled to Russia to discuss the plans.

Puck Daddy's sources inside the KHL confirmed that the Washington Capitals and the New York Rangers were the only two teams the KHL wanted to invite to Russia. The plan was to have the two NHL teams to play exhibition games against KHL

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Pavel Bure was the Russian Rocket, and his career had the trajectory of one that soared into the sky and then exploded. He scored 60 goals in back-to-back seasons between the ages of 21-22. He scored 58 and then 59 for the Florida Panthers from 1999-2001, during the trap years. His last season in the NHL was when he was 31, as a right knee injury cut his career short.

He spends most of his time in Miami now, and still follows the NHL in general. It's a very different League than the one he played in, and many fans believe a player with his speed and scoring ability would have set records under the post-lockout rules.

We spoke with Bure recently about that theory; about the shootout; about his split from the Vancouver Canucks; about concussions and player safety; about that state of Russian hockey, from the NHL to the KHL to the Olympics; about who he sees as "today's Pavel Bure"; and about being snubbed, so far, for the Hockey Hall of Fame. Enjoy:

Q. How different this post-lockout

If Pavel Datsyuk(notes) interviews are anything, they're unpredictable. Whether it's his dry humor or telling us "Don't touch my dream with your dirty hands" when asked about his fantasy car, the Detroit Red Wings star has always been a fascinating subject.

I spoke with Pavel recently about dozens of different topics, from his health to the Cup race to the Chicago Blackhawks to concussions to the Selke Trophy to his favorite superhero to what he's currently reading.

Here's out chat with Pavel Datsyuk:

Q. I read that when you got injured and the team was ready to go on a trip, you sent a message to Ken Holland that said, ‘I'm sorry. I got sick.'

DATSYUK: Something like that. They were leaving on a trip to play away from home. It was a long trip, as far as I remember. And I just took the opportunity and went to Florida to recover from my injury. I love being with the team, but if you can't perform certain functions there is no reason to travel with the team as a burden.

I know it's

Speaking as a Chesnokov, there's nothing worse than having your name butchered by someone else. The NHL is such an international league with the best non-North American born players that this butchering happens virtually daily.

There are different reasons for it, including the simple fact that some of these foreign names are not even spelled correctly in English. This is especially true for Russian-born players, and players from other countries that do not use the English alphabet.

The discrepancies in how foreign names are transcribed are the direct result of the difference in alphabets. For example, the Russian alphabet had 33 letters (two of which don't even have a sound) while the English alphabet, for example, has only 26.

For years, stemming back from the Soviet days, Russian names in Russian travel passports were transcribed into how they would be spelled in one of the two "working" languages of the United Nations -- French.

It created all sorts of troubles that finally the

On Jan. 16, we wrote that the Anaheim Ducks and Los Angeles Kings have been invited back for NHL Premiere 2011, along with the Buffalo Sabres, Edmonton Oilers, New York Rangers and the Washington Capitals. None have accepted yet.

While it's not a novelty that some NHL teams start their season in Europe, this year may be the first that such games may be played in Russia. In KHL's own backyard. And there is already plenty of opposition in Russian hockey circles to this development. Some want to see only exhibition games against KHL teams and no regular-season games between two NHL clubs. The threat of NHL expansion is probably still viewed as real in the KHL.

Russian Hockey Federation president Vladislav Tretiak told Sovetsky Sport, "We haven't come to a decision on anything with the NHL. I am meeting KHL President Alexander Medvedev next week to discuss... The KHL and the NHL need to be friends and need to develop their relationships. It's important for the public and for

Last week Vaclav Sykora, coach for KHL's SKA St. Petersburg told, a Czech media outlet, that the club was negotiating with Petr Prucha(notes) who was waived by the Phoenix Coyotes. SKA's General Manager Andrei Tochinsky earlier today stated that the club was close to signing Prucha.

And now it became official that Prucha signed in the KHL until the end of the season.

"We agreed to everything with Prucha. In the nearest future Petr will fly to St. Petersburg. He will be with our team until the end of the season." Tochinsky told Sovetsky Sport today.

"Our coach Vaclav Sykora knows Petr very well, and you can say that our management started actively working with this player from Vaclav's advice."

Tochinsky also noted that it is very likely that Prucha will stay on in the KHL after his contract expires at the end of the season. The KHL club also dealt directly with the Coyotes on the transfer of Prucha, something the KHL always wanted -- two clubs dealing directly with each other on