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Sorry, a little under the weather today!
I am slowly putting up the Hurricanes and Blackhawks UFA's now that the teams have been eliminated.
But let's look at the two BIGGIES.
Havlat and Khabibulin have shared very similar, very rollercoaster-like careers in Chicago.
There were times, just this year, when all you had to do was take on Khabibulin's salary and they would have driven him themselves to your arena.
Remember last July 1? Why would the Hawks sign Huet to that monster contract. Well here's what I was told about that at the time. "Well to be frank if they didn't sign another goalie there would have been mutiny. Bulin was NOT the most popular guy among his teammates."
Yet, they did HAVE to sign Huet at the time.
This year, according to what I have heard from EXTREMELY reliable source, at least twice Khabibulin came close to being moved. Once to Colorado, and once to Philadelphia. The Philadelphia move was also somehow tied into another move and would have happened had that other move not fallen through.
At one point this season the Hawks and Khabibulin were working on a way to get him to Russia and take him off their cap space.
Obviously, Khabibulin turned it on this year and became THE guy. He was huge in the Calgary series and in the Vancouver series. We all knew that he had this competitive side. This is why I am still convinced that if the Senators had pulled the trigger on a possible deal they were talking about to get the Bulin wall, we may have seen Ottawa playing Pittsburgh in the Conference Finals.
However would he have made a difference against Detroit? Probably not. And in the end Huet may have gone a long way in helping the Hawks down the line to make that decision. Especially that one save at the end of Game 5 on Holmstrom.
Then there is Havlat...
Havlat is perhaps even more interesting. He has been either AMAZING or hurt for his entire time in Chicago. He can be the best players on the ice on any given night and now the sticking point for Havlat is "length of contract." Which makes a lot of sense if your are Chicago. Giving Havlat more than three years is tough...Especially when you look at the contracts to come in Chicago. The young and now underpaid talent on the Hawks is amazing...Beyond the obvious, even guys like Burish showed enormous potential.
I thought it was fascinating when Babcock stated during the Hawks series after Game 2, "Good luck keeping that team together."
I don't see the Hawks really being able to sign either of these players...Definitely not Bulin unless somehow they can convince Colorado or Edmonton to take Huet. Which I don't see happening.
Both Khabibulin and Havlat have been added to the Rumour Chart...Both Khabibulin and Havlat have been added to the
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