A cool story about Evgeni Nabokov this season is that where there could have been a story, there has been no story. This is his contract year. The Sharks goalie will become a free agent this summer unless he is signed to a contract extension. But I haven’t heard a word from him, in Russian or English, about it. Neither have you.

The reason? Nabokov and the Sharks have mutually agreed not to talk about any of that until we all see how this season’s playoffs turn out. In the NBA or the NFL, that would never happen. Nabokov’s situation, for a player of his stature, would lead to a full-blown season-long soap opera. Not in the NHL.

“You can’t compare hockey to other sports,” Nabokov said with a smile. “You just can’t. I know you guys want to do it. I understand why. But I hear it sometimes, how a goalie is like a baseball pitcher. How? How can you say that?”

Here’s how: A goalie is the one player in hockey who can control a game if he is having a spectacular night. This season, Nabokov has had a few. The NHL goalie statistics don’t lie. Nabokov is among the top four in wins, save percentage and goals-against average. Since the first of December, he has allowed more than two goals in a game just twice.

Do we take him for granted around here? Probably. Nabokov has spent 540 games as a Sharks masked man. Tonight will be No. 541, against the Detroit Red Wings. This month is his 10th anniversary as a NHL goalie.

All of that time back there in the crease, watching all of that hockey between saves and goals, can give a man perspective. This explains why, when Nabokov speaks, I usually listen closely.

I certainly heard him last spring. After the Sharks’ ugly first-round playoff elimination by Anaheim, we stood in the quiet visiting dressing room at the Honda Center. Despite his own less-than-stellar series, Nabokov had been a stand-up guy throughout. Unlike some other Sharks, he showed up for postgame questioning, win or lose.

And so it was that, before leaving the room, I complimented his professionalism and expressed the thought that of all the Sharks’ playoff losses over the years, this must have been the worst one for Nabokov because it had been the Sharks’ best team on paper. They had earned the Presidents Trophy for having the NHL’s best regular-season record.

“This wasn’t our best team,” Nabokov said softly, in response.

Curious, I wanted to press the matter further. Was the locker room chemistry bad? The talent overrated? Nabokov wasn’t in the mood to elaborate. I made a mental note to revisit the quote later.

Later turned out to be the other day. I reminded Nabokov of last spring’s remark. He acknowledged that, yes, well, he did utter those words but said not to overblow them. After a first-round loss, how could anyone dare call it the Sharks’ best team? It didn’t matter why things weren’t right.

“I will tell you when it’s going to be the best team we have — and that’s when we win,” Nabokov said, meaning the Stanley Cup. “It doesn’t mean anything until you do that.”

As if someone needs to tell Sharks fans. But “… yup, here we go again. Our beloved Los Tiburones are once more leading the entire NHL in points, as the Olympic break approaches. So the question must arise: Is this their best team?

No way Nabokov would go there, for obvious reasons. He did offer some observations, though. He confirmed what most of us can see for ourselves: This is not the slickest or prettiest Sharks team, stylistically. But the pucks are going in the net.

“We can score, this team,” Nabokov said. “Some games when we are not playing well, we are still able to win because of that. Some guys can be having a tough night, but we are still able to get two points.”

Anything else?

“I think we are more patient with each other and calmer, off the ice and on the ice,” he said. “I think we “… stay more even keel, where in the past, we might get excited too much at certain times.”

Calmer? That’s not a word you frequently hear around hockey.

But I knew what Nabokov meant. Compared to the previous two seasons, there don’t seem to be as many of those third-period out-of-whack Sharks moments, where a lead is blown or a two-goal lead carelessly becomes a one-goal lead.

I also thought about Nabokov’s answer and about what happened last week — when the Sharks fell behind 3-0 to a young and assertive Chicago Blackhawks team in the first period. The Sharks didn’t overheat or overskate. They settled down and methodically came back to tie the score. The Sharks lost in overtime. But the “calmer” attitude could pay off in April.

Nabokov isn’t the only Sharks player in a contract year. So is Patrick Marleau, who is tied for the NHL lead in goals. He, too, is not uttering a word about getting a new deal.

If the Sharks do finally win a Stanley Cup, could they afford to keep both men? Wouldn’t it be nice for the team to have that problem?

Contact Mark Purdy at mpurdy@mercurynews.com or 408-920-5092.