"Nabokov was selected by San Jose in the
1994 NHL Entry Draft (9th round, 219th overall). When he started playing in
North America, he went by John, rather than Evgeni,
[1] fearing that English speakers would have a hard time pronouncing his name.
[2] However, this change did not last."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evgeni_Nabokov
Not John. Not anymore. So says wikipedia. BAM!