The Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday placed former starting goalie Nikolai Khabibulin on waivers in hopes of perhaps enticing a rival team to pluck him and his $6.75 million salary off their hands.
As expected however Khabibulin cleared waivers as no NHL team is currently willing to take on that salary, especially given Khabibulin's inconsistency and injury history over the past three seasons.
So now GM Dale Tallon faces four choices:
One, he could simply keep Khabibulin on the roster and have him and Cristobal Huet battle it out for the starting goalie's job, in hopes that his play might entice a rival team to come calling with a trade offer.
Possible, but it's seems apparent Tallon would prefer to move Khabibulin and perhaps bring up Corey Crawford to back up Huet, whose signing this past summer by the Blackhawks signaled the beginning of the end of Khabibulin's tenure as their starting goalie.
Second, Tallon could try to trade him, which he's been rumored doing since signing Huet back in July, but again Khabibulin's salary and injury history apparently isn't attracting much interest.
That might change after a few weeks of the regular season when injuries or poor performances could force some clubs to shop for goaltending help, but as we've seen in the NHL's salary cap world, major trades early in the season rarely occur, as almost all the teams have committed their available cap space, or in the case of teams that hug the league's cap floor, unwilling to spend more above that level.
Tallon's third option would be to simply demote Khabibulin to the minors, which would clear his salary from the Blackhawks cap thus freeing up room for the Blackhawks GM to perhaps add another player, like a veteran center.
The downside to that option is that while Khabibulin's salary won't count against the cap, the Blackhawks still have to pay him his $6.75 million, which is a lot of money to have riding the buses in the minors.
The fourth option, and one which might be more palatable to rival teams possibly interested in Khabibulin, is to demote him and then place him on recall waivers.
A team could then claim him and only be on the hook for half of Khabibulin's salary, leaving the Blackhawks to pick up the other half.
At this point in the season that might be the only way for Tallon to move Khabibulin, and would still leave him enough cap space to bring in additional help later in the season.
It remains to be seen what Tallon will do but hopefully we won't have to wait too long to find out.
**UPDATE** Turns out another option could be "loaning" Khabibulin to a Russian team for the season , which would not only clear his salary from the Blackhawks cap but might also result in a Russian team picking up most of the cost of that salary.
I see Chicago sending Khabibulin down to the minors. He will refuse to go because of his ego, pack his gear and his life and go back to Europe. The Hawks will then suspend him, forcing him to forfiet his salary or at most create a legal problem that will either be settled by the league or by a team of lawyers. They will both be in breach of contract and the only ones who will profit will be the lawyers. Remember he sat out a whole season early in his career, so this will be a no-brainer for him!
I was in Tampa when he played for us and he is not an emotional person. He gets disrespect and he takes his ball (goalie stick, in his case!) and goes home. It is a goalie"s mindset...intensity, focus and respect. Lose one of those and you might as well not suit up. He sat before for money, now with 3 years of Hawks money, he will just go home!
1) The problem the Hawks have is that even if they try to bring Khabibulin back up through re-entry waivers, 1/2 his salary 3.375, is still WAY too much in our opinion
2) We doubt, as Danig correctly points out, that he would simply write off 6.75 million to avoid riding busses for a few months
3) In the end the hawks will probably be stuck with him for at least part of the season after part of his salary has been paid, and perhaps a team or two has an injured goalie to replace
Just a couple of things. Isn't he getting up there in years and, if he is, isn't there an age (I think it's 35) where their salary can't be removed by sending them to the minors? Also, it has proven to be very tough to move goalies, especially early in the season. Burke couldn't get anything for Bryzgalov even with a lot of upside and much lower salary. Guys like Conklin and Raycroft who have had prior success in the league can't even get starter jobs. Khabibulin hasn't shown that he is what he was and most GMs have got to be leery of him and his contract-even at half price!
Last edited by clearthetrack on October 2nd at 8:59 AM.
1) Clear: Not certain, but the over 35 thing might pertain to the age in which the player SIGNED his contract. Khabibulin was under 35 at the time of this silly contract
2) The Russian loan possibility is interesting. The Devils did this with an over paid defensemen. (Vishnevski) How the NHL can use the KHL to its advantage and be OK with that kind of cap circumvention, but cries foul over the Radulov case? Can/should the NHL have it both ways?
http://newfaux.blogspot.com/
Faux: 1) I think you're right about the Khaby thing. I think it's the age you are when you sign.
2) It's not having it both ways. One is a case of a team letting a player play in the KHL rather than the AHL and another is the case of a player and league ignoring a valid contract that the player signed with the NHL. One is an agreement between a league, a player and another league while the other is an agreement between a league and a player to ignore another league.
If you can send a player down to the AHL and not have his salary count against the cap, why can't he play in a different league and not have his salary count against the cap?
I'm Lyle Richardson, also known as Spector, Foxsports.com 's "Prince of Pucks".,which is based on the fact I live in Prince Edward Island, Canada and I couldn't think of a better byline. I've been an NHL hockey commentator since 1998 on my website, Spector's Hockey, and I'm a contributing writer for Foxsports.com , The Hockey News and Eishockey News. I'm also a regular on The Faceoff Hockey Show and a frequent guest on "The Late Crew" on The Team 1200 Ottawa.
