Havlat, Khabibulin Both Want To Stay
Odds are only one of them will
By TOM FORNELLI
Updated 12:45 PM CST, Sat, May 30, 2009
Whenever Detroit Red Wings coach Mike Babcock was asked what he thought of the young Chicago Blackhawks in the last few weeks, he's said the same thing. They're a very good young team with the potential of being great, but the biggest challenge is going to be keeping this team together under the NHL's salary cap. Now that the Hawks season has ended some changes may be coming very soon.
Both Nikolai Khabibulin and Martin Havlat are free agents and there's a chance neither will be back in Chicago next season. Though odds are much greater that Havlat will be back in Chicago than Khabibulin will be. The Hawks signed Cristobal Huet to a big contract last offseason, and keeping Khabibulin around would mean the team would be committing a lot of its cap space to their goaltender position.
Cap space that will be needed to keep this young nucleus together. So when looking at it that way and adding in the fact that the Hawks have two promising goaltenders on their AHL affiliate in Rockford, Khabibulin is as good as gone even if he means it when he says he wants to be back.
As for Havlat, he's a very important member of the Hawks offensive attack as he has a knack for scoring big goals and he also has a calming influence over the rest of his team. Much like Khabibulin, Havlat would like to stay in Chicago.
"I want to tell everyone, right here, right now. There is nowhere else I want to be except Chicago," said Havlat on his Twitter page. "I would be honored to be a Blackhawk for the rest of my career. I love it here. I really hope it happens."
Now while Havlat had a very nice season with the Hawks this year, there is some questions about signing him to a long-term deal. First of all, he's not going to be cheap and committing a lot of money to him could cost the Hawks some players in the future. Secondly, this was his first season in Chicago in which he managed to stay healthy all season. Well, at least as healthy as a hockey player can be.
The only thing worse than committing a bunch of money to Havlat at the expense of other players would be if he were to spend the majority of that contract injured.
It's a tough decision to make, and one that general manager Dale Tallon is going to have to think through.
Along with writing for NBCCHICAGO.com, Tom Fornelli can also be found contributing at FanHouse, SPORTSbyBROOKS, and his own Chicago sports blog Foul Balls
Copyright NBC Local Media
First Published: May 30, 2009 12:31 PM CST
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