I've been getting a lot of flack lately for my calls for the Blackhawks to ship Nikolai Khabibulin off somewhere. When trade rumors have failed to materialize, I've even tried to invent other ways to get rid of him.
Then Khabby turns around and plays well to start the season, thus making me look like an idiot.
To be clear, it's nothing personal. Nor do I think Khabibulin is a terrible player. It's just that the Hawks invested big dollars in a guy who they think is better in Cristobal Huet.
Moreover, even if the Hawks were just trading straight across on the talent front by shifting their commitment from Khabibulin to Huet, they had a vested interest in solidifying the goaltending situation for this year and beyond. And lets face it, Khabibulin was never likely to be wearing a Hawks sweater after his current albatross of a contract is upat the end of the season, even if Huet weren't in the picture. It's rare that a player comes back to a team for fewer dollars, which is the exact situation the Hawks and Khabby would have faced this offseason.
So what do the Hawks do now that Khabibulin (2.52 goal-against-average / .950 save percentage in 12 games) is outplaying Huet (2.95/.900/7 games)?
Here's what they should do: Nothing.
The Hawks aren't even a quarter of the way through the season, so there's no reason to change course now.
Khabibulin is hot, so by all means keep playing him in goal. And the next time he lets in a few softies -- which Hawks fans without amnesia will recall he's been known to do -- throw Huet back in net.
And if the right offer comes in for Khabby -- and by that I mean one in which the Hawks get real value back -- help him pack a suitcase and bid him adieu.
That may stun some people who want to look at the first 19 games and think it's crazy to trade away your best goaltender. But the Hawks didn't think Khabibulin was their best option to start the year, so they shouldn't start believing it just now.
During the 1996-97 season, the Hawks made a bogus call in January by sending Ed Belfour to San Jose for a bag of crap because they thought they'd be better off with Jeff Hackett in net.
Hackett was having a nice season, to be sure. His numbers (2.16 GAA/.927 SV%) bested the work the Hawks got from Belfour in net that season (2.69/.907 before the trade). But other than the fact that Belfour was going to be a free agent at the end of the year -- and the Hawks didn't want to pay him what he was worth -- there was no reason to make that move.
Why? Well, consider that Belfour would spend the next six seasons as one of the NHL's best goalies. He won a Stanley Cup, lost in another Cup finals and carried the Stars deep another season. For years after that he was still a good goalie, and even at the age of 43 he could probably still help an NHL team today if one called him.
Hackett lost more games than he won over the rest of his career with the Hawks and three other teams. That's not entirely his fault, but he hardly distinguished himself.
In other words, Belfour is going to hockey's Hall of Fame. Hackett might be going to a Dennys right now. I don't know, but I can tell you nobody cares what he's doing.
It was a rash (and shamefully money-driven) decision to write Belfour off midway through what was an all-around disappointing season. It would be another rash move to bury Huet after the Hawks signed him to deal almost as lucrative as the one GM Dale Tallon lavished on Khabibulin and now can't move in trade.
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