Nikolai Khabibulin Out 4-5 Months
Some have wondered what the Blackhawks would do with Antti Raanta when Nikolai Khabibulin returned from injury. On Tuesday, the Blackhawks answered those questions by effectively ending Khabibulin’s time in Chicago.
The Blackhawks announced on Tuesday that Khabibulin had successful surgery on a torn rotator cuff and will miss the next 4-5 months, putting his timetable for return somewhere in the middle of the playoffs.
Rotator cuff = lower body injury?? How convenient!
To quote Bob Porter from office space “We’re gonna be getting rid of these people here… First, Mr. Samir Naga… Naga… Naga… Not gonna work here anymore, anyway.”
In all seriousness I saw this move coming its a good thing that Stan took out a insurance policy named Antti Raanta.
Tab correct me if I am wrong but now that 2 million that Khabby was being paid is now available since he is on LTIR?
I think he was at a 1.7 cap hit & we were at cap/very close to it wen we put him on ltir. So, I think that means we would have the difference between his 1.7 & Raanta .925
We added Versteeg 2.2 so besides that addition/overall cap status, we did gain .875 between the goalie depth charts…
He’s already been on LTIR, SSHM. And his space has mostly been eaten by Versteeg.
I think we should put 6 on the ahl roster near the deadline, then have him come up when we need him/to play a game…
That way we have (capgeek) the 1.114 + .625 (Kostka ) which gives us 1.739 for a deadline depth forward/pk.
Goc.
How screwed would we have been without Ranta? Great signing by SB.
Call it luck or good fortune or maybe karma for so many years of doldrums, but whatever it is called – there’s been a lot of it over the last six or seven years, and this latest sequence of events is more of the same.
It started with Raanta selecting the Hawks from among a group of suiters – even though the Hawks had two goalies having excellent seasons.
Then when Emery decided to go to Phily, Stan had to find a #2 goalie and decided Raanta wasn’t ready yet so he signed Khabibulin and Raanta goes to Rockford and cuts his teeth on the smaller NA ice without the pressure of being thrown into the NHL.
Then by the time Khaby gets hurt, Raanta has played a bunch of games for the Hogs so Stan decides to give the kid a shot as the backup goalie. The thought being he would only play a few games because Crawford would play most games.
Raanta plays pretty well in his first few starts so that when Crawford goes down Stan decides to give the kid a chance to handle the #1 duties. Raanta plays so well that he is named co-rookie of the month.
Then Crawford comes back and looks like he has no lingering effects from the injury and plays very well. But now the question is what to do with Raanta when Khaby is ready to come back?
Solution solved – someone notices a twinge in Khaby’s shoulder and he has surgery to repair the problem which will keep him out of action until after the playoffs start.
Whoever it is out there that is rubbing a rabbit’s foot or sleeping on a horeshoe or whatever … please continue to do so. Thanks.
I wish I knew how to edit my posts – “Solution solved” was obviously meant to say “Problem solved”. Plus I usually have a bunch of typos and missing letters, etc.
Is it possible to edit posts, and if yes, please tell me how to do it.
An edit function would be nice .whenever I type w my phone it types like Jameis Winston speaks
ER- I can only assume that as a youth, Stan Bowman was doing some naked horseback riding, fell of the horse and landed ass first on a pile of horse shoes.
If Khabi actually had a shoulder problem, it might explain why he was so damn bad at the start of the season… but I’m going with old.
Great post ER…
JS I don’t believe for a second that Khabbys injury was a rotator cuff…he had a lower body injury, as released by the club…as I said after hearing Q’s responses to reporters on the Bulin question, I knew he wasn’t coming back…likely, Khabby has an old shoulder injury and the Hawks offered him Rockford or surgery with full pay as a way out of this predicament…solution solved…I mean problem solved…
And yes, Bowman HAS done a fantastic job as GM…the only “sore” spot has been 2nd line centre…which he was sure would be filled from within…that’s how you know for sure that Bowman and Q are on the opposite sides of the Pirri and Morin issue…Bowman has said outright that he felt both players played well in their time in Chicago and have bright futures in the NHL…again, Bowman fields the organization, the coaches have “the lineup card”…
As for moving forward, we are rock solid in net with CC and Raanta, but our slight defenders require the full back check from the forwards…and that only happens consistently if we roll 4 lines…and the predicament that Q has put himself into, is dressing Bickell, Bollig and Handzus at the same time…either these players get better, or we won’t advance out of the west…
According to reports, Khabibulin’s shoulder had been an issue earlier in the season, but he injured the groin and that is what ultimately pushed him to IR. It is intriguing, however, that he is opting for the significant surgery in January.
Tab, I honestly believe that Khabby was shocked by his own play…”taking” the injury deal takes all the pressure off of him…had he come back this season, his first couple of starts (at the expense of Raanta) would have been massive pressure cookers…and at his age, I don’t think he wanted any of that…he can “rehab” over the off season and see if he has another year left in him to play with a NON contending club…
Just wish Raanta could be the #1 in Rockford AND back up ChiTown
Raanta should get some valuable time in Rockford next month
Might be an unfortunate end to a pretty nice career. Probably the first Russian goalie to be an NHL star. Not always on the best of teams, he has done very well You have to be pretty good to play 800 games in goal. Plus he won a G7 Cup Final and has the coolest nickname.