Nabby says, "It's not fair!"

Ever notice how Evgeni Nabokov looks really pissed off when he does interviews these days? Well, it's not just the goal-support issue (Nabby gets about 2 goals for each game, Vesa Toskala gets almost 4.5), it's the schedule. Sure, Ron Wilson probably thinks it's fair just to alternate Nabokov and Toskala game by game, but look at the opponents in here:

Nabokov's Schedule
*NY Islanders
Edmonton
Dallas
Minnesota
Detroit
Tampa
NY Rangers
Minnesota
*Phoenix
Colorado
Anaheim
NJ Devils
Minnesota
Dallas
Nashville

Toskala's Schedule
*St. Louis
Calgary
Vancouver
*Columbus
Nashville
*Florida
Pittsburgh
*LA
*Phoenix
*LA
*Philadelphia
*LA
*St. Louis
Detroit
Colorado
*Phoenix

I've put an asterik next to each team that's not within sniffing distance of .500 or better (the only exception is the Islanders since Toskala played them before Ted Nolan spun straw into gold). So by my account, Toskala's got 10 fairly easy opponents while Nabokov's only had, um, 2.

Not quite fair, huh? In terms of stats, the two are freakishly identical. As of today, they both have 2.04 GAA and a save percentage that is within one 1000th of each other (.924 for Nabby vs .925 for Toskala). But if you factor in the competition and goal support in there, I'd say that Nabokov's having an even better season than Toskala.

Food for thought when we enter the post-Christmas trade rumor silly season.