Savard expects goalie battle
It's still the middle of summer, but if training camp opened tomorrow for the Blackhawks, coach Denis Savard said the battle for the No. 1 goalie job would be wide open.
The signing Tuesday of free agent goalie Cristobal Huet to a four-year, $5.63 million contract appears to have at least started the process of bumping Nikolai Khabibulin out of the picture.
"We'll settle that in time," Savard said. "Right now we have two No. 1 goalies and you've got to be deep there. Obviously, the hot hand will end up playing the most."
Training camp doesn't start until the middle of September, and by then Khabibulin might not even be with the Hawks, which would leave Corey Crawford and Antti Niemi to battle for the backup job.
It won't be easy for the Hawks to move the 35-year-old Khabibulin and the one year he has remaining on his contract for $6.75 million, but once the dust settles from free agency there figures to be a lot of trade talk around the NHL.
Huet is coming off two strong seasons in which his save percentage was among the best in the league. He was 32-14-6 last season with Montreal and Washington with a 2.32 goals-against average and .920 save percentage, which ranked sixth in the league.
The Hockey News rated Huet the 16th best free agent available, restricted or unrestricted, with Brian Campbell third behind Shea Weber and Marian Hossa. Weber, a restricted free agent, re-signed with Nashville, and Hossa went to Detroit as an unrestricted free agent.
"The thing I like about Huet is he played under the gun in Montreal," said Savard. "That's a lot of pressure and he handled it well."
In Campbell, the Hawks now have a bona fide No. 1 defenseman to go with Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook.
"We have a pretty good 1-2 punch now with Campbell and Dunc," said Savard. "One of them is going to be on the ice every other shift.
"Campbell gives us a lot of options now. I don't care how many good forwards you have, it takes a good defenseman to get the puck to the forwards. He fits in with us perfectly. He's got great skill, but he's also good in his own end."
As for how Campbell will fit in on the power play, Savard envisions the two-time all-star playing the point on the right side.
"We'll see where he fits best, but I know he's going to be out there with (Jonathan) Toews, (Patrick) Kane and (Martin) Havlat," said Savard.
"We'll make adjustments, but he gives us a lot more options. He'll bring it up the ice on the power play, which will have us spending less time going back for pucks."
The feel-good story that has been the Hawks this week was tempered a bit Thursday with the news defenseman James Wisniewski tore his right ACL working out and will need surgery.
It's normally a 4-6 month rehab for a torn ACL, which makes it more than likely that Wisniewski won't be ready to start the season in October.
General manager Dale Tallon said Wednesday, even before the news on Wisniewski, that he was looking to add a physical defenseman to the team's mix.
The Hawks are believed to have talked to Pittsburgh about 6-foot-4, 219-pound defenseman Ryan Whitney, who had 12 goals and 40 points last season.
Whitney, the fifth pick overall in the 2002 draft, is signed long term with a $4 million cap hit, but the Penguins might be looking to shave payroll after signing cornerstones Evgeni Malkin, Marc-Andre Fleury and Brooks Orpik to big contracts in the last few days.