Funny - Nabokov never set foot in Nassau nor ever played for them, yet he is “suspended” - a technicality, I suppose, for salary-cap and roster rules.
As a second note - NHL teams are getting away from Russians for just this reason. They just don’t think like, or play like teammates, North Americans. The Sabres, for one, have had an unspoken policy that they generally would not bring on any more Russians. Recruit those Saskatchewan farmboys from the WHL instead!
I think the Russian Mob has their hooks in a lot of the Russian players.
Two Russians who immediately come to mind as players who were awesome "teammates" in the North American mold were Igor Larionov (one of the first Soviets to play in the NHL in the late 1980s) and Sergei Brylin. Larionov was a legitimate star for a number of teams, while Brylin played in obscurity for the New Jersey Devils from 1995 up until a couple of years ago. Brylin was notable because he was one of only 3 or 4 players who played on all three Stanley Cup teams for New Jersey (1995, 2000 and 2003), and because he was a perennial winner of the team's "Unsung Hero" award given to the best teammate behind the scenes.
I suspect Vladislav Tretiak would have been a great "team player" as well in the NHL, based on everything I've read about him. He's one of the most highly respected players you'll find on the international stage.