Hawks waive Khabibulin
The charade is over.
From the time the Blackhawks signed goalie Cristobal Huet to a four-year, $22.5 million contract as a free agent on July 1 right up through Saturday, they insisted the plan was to start the season with both Huet and Nikolai Khabibulin on the roster.
But that was never really the Hawks' intention, and they proved it Monday, placing the 35-year-old Khabibulin on waivers with the intention of giving themselves relief from the goalie's $6.75 million salary cap hit.
"We'll evaluate all our options and we'll have more to say when the waiver period is over," general manager Dale Tallon said.
The 48-hour waiver period for Khabibulin ends Wednesday.
Should another team claim Khabibulin, which seems unlikely, the Hawks would be off the hook for the entire $6.75 million - which they could then turn around and use to acquire an experienced second-line center.
If no club claims Khabibulin, the Hawks could assign him to Rockford of the American Hockey League and have his contract off their cap figure while still being required to pay him.
If Khabibulin is assigned to the minors on paper only, then brought back on recallable waivers and another team then claimed him, the Hawks would be responsible for only $3.375 million of the salary against the cap with the new club paying the other half.
More rumors surfaced Monday of a team, possibly the Ottawa Senators, being interested in Khabibulin via trade. However, any deal the Hawks might make for Khabibulin would certainly require them to take some salary back.
It was obvious something was up Sunday night at the United Center when Khabibulin failed to make his scheduled start against the Dallas Stars.
Savard raised eyebrows even more when he said he wasn't sure if Khabibulin would start Monday's game in Columbus, which the Hawks lost 7-1 with Huet in net.
The Hawks started Finnish free agent Antti Niemi instead against Dallas with Savard saying they wanted to give him the experience of playing in front of the home crowd.
Now why would the Hawks want to do that unless they felt that either Niemi or Corey Crawford would start the season as Huet's backup?
Niemi has impressed the front office with his quickness ever since he stood out at prospects camp in July and is a proven three-year veteran of the Finnish pro league.
This is the final year of the four-year, $27 million contract Khabibulin signed as a free agent in 2005. He never lived up to expectations, going 65-72-17 in three years.
Khabibulin called it "a combination of everything," on the first day of training camp when asked if Hawks fans never got to see him at his best.
"I probably didn't play my best, but at the same time we've got be honest: We can't say that the teams here were championship caliber either, so it's really hard to judge any particular player," Khabibulin said.
(bul) The Hawks reduced their preseason roster by four on Monday when Mike Blunden, Jake Dowell, Bryan Bickell and Tim Hambly were assigned to Rockford.