Hawks' Huet vows to keep battling for No. 1 job
Even though it appears he has lost the Blackhawks' No. 1 goalie job to Antti Niemi for now, Cristobal Huet vows to keep battling for playing time over the final 21 games of the season.
"It's never fun sitting on the bench and it's not something I want to do, but going into the last 21 games I'm really focused to take the challenge and I'm going to work hard to get some ice time again," Huet said Thursday.
"Whatever I need to do to get back on the ice and on the winning track, I need to do it."
From what Hawks Joel Quenneville said following practice on Thursday, it sounded as if the No. 1 goalie job now is Niemi's to lose.
Quenneville started Niemi in the final four games before the Olympic break with the first-year goalie winning them all. Quenneville won't announce his starter for Tuesday's game against the Islanders until Monday, but he hinted strongly it would be Niemi.
"During the course of the season somebody is going to get the net and get the opportunity to keep it," Quenneville said. "That was the chance and (Niemi) took it and he's got it. Based on him winning, it's tough to change the goalie in that situation.
"We'll announce our goalie going into the Islander game and go from there, but we won some games and I don't like usually bucking that trend."
Quenneville raised eyebrows when he started Niemi on back-to-back days before the break against Atlanta on Feb. 13 and Columbus on Feb. 14.
Huet admitted he was somewhat surprised not to get one of those starts
"Yeah, a little bit," he said. "I have to accept it."
Huet's last start was Feb. 5 against Phoenix, a 2-1 loss in a shootout. He has lost his last three starts and seen his save percentage drop to .903 compared to Niemi's .913.
Huet hasn't talked to Quenneville about the situation and won't right now.
"I haven't talked to Joel about it yet," Huet said. "We'll see how it goes right now. It's really time to get back in game shape. We have like a mini-camp approach and we'll go from there.
"We have a tight schedule and I'm sure there's going to be time to play, the both of us. I can't decide (who plays), so I just need to play my best."
The NHL's trade deadline is Wednesday and there continues to be rumors of Hawks general manager Stan Bowman kicking the tires with available goalies, specifically Florida's Tomas Vokoun.
Huet's name has been mentioned in at least one rumor, but with two years remaining on his contract and with a cap hit of $5.62 million, it's unlikely there would be another team interested in taking on that committed money.
"I heard about the rumors, but I really can't comment on it," Huet said. "Most of them aren't true. For me, my focus is to play here good the next week and go from there.
"We all deal (with rumors), but you can't worry about those things. You have to stay focused on the puck. That's our job."
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