Hawks never serious about bringing back Khabibulin

While it's fact the Blackhawks tried to deal goalie Cristobal Huet at the trade deadline last March, Nikolai Khabibulin said Wednesday the Hawks never got serious in their attempts to re-sign him as a free agent.

Apparently it was obvious to the Hawks by that time that they would not be able to move Huet. Khabibulin wound up signing a four-year, $15 million contract with Edmonton when the most the Hawks likely would have offered the 36-year-old veteran was a two-year pact.

"There was really nothing to compare it to as far as the Hawks," Khabibulin said. "It was a pretty easy decision for me. As soon as free agency started Edmonton called and they were very serious about it."

Khabibulin spent four seasons in Chicago after signing what was then the richest contract in franchise history in 2005 at $27 million.

Khabibulin never lived up to the deal until his final season, but even then his numbers were comparable to Cristobal Huet's and his .898 playoff save percentage wasn't the reason why the Hawks advanced to the Western Conference finals.

"It was almost like two different times here," Khabibulin said. "The one was pretty rough when we didn't play well and didn't have any fans. The second kind of stage, the fans started coming back, the games were on TV and all the positive buzz made it a lot of fun to play here.

"I really enjoyed my time here even though the first couple years were pretty rough. I have nothing bad to say."

Khabibulin downplayed his return and the fact he didn't get to square off against Huet.

"I've done this a few times, and after a while it's not that big a deal after you change teams," Khabibulin said. "I'm not playing against the goalie. I'm playing against the other team."

Back and forth: Winger Jack Skille was recalled from Rockford after being sent down on Tuesday.

Hawks coach Joel Quenneville said the shuttling of Skille likely would continue for salary cap reasons. Each day Skille is not on the roster, his $1.25 million cap hit is off the books, a figure that accumulates in the Hawks' favor.

"I just work here and I do what I'm told," said Skille, who has been driving to Rockford to practice on the off-days. "Right now, I'm just going to focus on playing well when I'm up here. Honestly, I know nothing about the numbers. That whole cap thing is confusing to us as players."