Can't give up on Huet just yet
It's way too early to give up on Cristobal Huet less than two weeks into the season.
But the clock is ticking.
Huet has made four starts and been shaky in all of them. His exit seven minutes into Monday's game against Calgary after he allowed 3 goals on 5 shots was the right move by Hawks coach Joel Quenneville even if the defensive play in front of the goalie was shoddy.
It's a goalie's job to come up with big saves after defensive breakdowns, especially the goalie on a team that's supposed to contend for the Stanley Cup.
Huet has been beaten up high (David Booth's tying goal in the season opener), to the short side (Kris Draper in Detroit), and through his body (Colorado's Milan Hejduk on a 5-on-3 power plat last Saturday).
Big saves at big times. Sorry, you've just got to have them.
Quenneville has a history of being impatient with his goalies so it'll be interesting to see how long Huet continues to be supported by his coach.
The Hawks really don't have much choice than to let Huet play through his early-season problems, at least right now with Antti Niemi still unproven.
Huet has two years left on his contract after this one for $5.625 million a season, which makes him almost impossible to trade.
A highly reliable source said the Hawks offered Huet to several teams at the trade deadline last March, which would have paved the way for them to re-sign Nikolai Khabibulin for two more years.
If Huet doesn't start playing better as the season moves on to November and December, keep in mind he can be waived and sent to the minors. While the Hawks still would be on the hook for paying Huet’s full salary, the $5 million-plus cap hit would come off the books and they could try to trade for another goalie.
With Khabibulin and the Edmonton Oilers coming to town on Wednesday, what does Quenneville do? Throw Huet right back into the fire and hope he is motivated by facing Khabibulin, or go with Niemi and let Huet play Thursday in Nashville where there might be less pressure?
Me? I'd come back with Huet. If he's going to be the guy, then he must show he can be the guy. Right now.
You need a goalie; we need some D. Barker for Halak, yes or no?
Peace.
when we already have an unproven Niemi?
next.
Not that I want a decisive GM like Mike Keenan, but he would have done something like sign Anderson as a free agent, trade either Sharp or Versteeg to allow for some salary cap room and demote Huet to Rockford (thus his salary comes off books). This means that if Huet is brought back up, he fixes his letting in weak goals and he at least does a better job at the shots that he just waves at. We all know Huet is not #1 starter material; in reality he is capable of being a fair goaltender -- but like some post point out, he won't lead you to a Stanley Cup. The playoffs will be very tough -- more so this year than last -- and if this team is built to challenge for the Cup, Bowman won't go far if he still is employing Huet. Huet would hae to be very good for a long playoff stretch. While he could conceivably do well for a series or two, playoff teams look for any edge and I'm certain Huet would eventually get burned due to his goaltending style. Yes, like majority of goalies he has the butterbly style, but he has some aspects to his golatending that hurt his performances in the end.
We will wait and see if and what Bowman can dream up, because this is a problem that isn't going away. Because Khabby has groin isues often the past few years, signing him would have been a mistake (sorry Khabby39 post -- btw, email me at jff9159@yahoo.com about hockey draft leagues -- I have some interesting info for you) . A bold move like going after Anderson would have been the best move. Anderson may not prove to be among the league's best, but his style does not lend itself to bad goals and he would have been an upgrade over Huet. Bowman didn't see this possible move, or, perhaps, he did, but Colorado was hungry for Anderson. Who knows? Also, who knows the long term potential of kids Fallon and Richards. Kind of hard to project them, other than that they should be NHL goaltenders one day? Oh, one other point, about that comment that said Niemi can be like a fish out of water, floping about after making a save....tend to agree...also noticed in minors last year that he has those big pads and can decrease the amount of area to shoot at. Personally, I've always liked Garon and think he will pan out. But right now he is going no where, he's MAson's back up.
Good question about who's gonna go with Zack. We can't afford for Seabrook to be off the ice for five minutes, but that's who I'd like to see go.
The Hawks dont have anybody on their club right now who can go with him.
Team toughness? LOL
Huet needs to get the start. At home, against Khabby, fresh memories of Monday, and hopefully a team that doesn't sleepwalk in the first period again. This guy can play better, and he deserves the chance to prove himself now.
Who's gonna go with Stortini tonight?
I like what Dave M says. Hey, I have followed the Hawks since Glenn Hall played all 70 games of the season, and now live in San Jose Sharks turf. Talk about wanting to heave!!!! You need defensement who join the rush, and it looks like the Hawks have no shortage of those at the moment, but how about some guys who don't get caught up-ice and leave their goalie to fend off breakaways? There is a balance necessary with defensemen.
The Sharks' GM is Doug Wilson, who probably owns all Blackhawk scoring records for defensemen. Old Dougie has built his Sharks to play just like he did, and let's remember that even with Savard, Secord, Larmer and the rest of Wilson's teammates, those Hawks never won the Cup. Wilson was great to watch, and I imagine Brian Campbell is, too, but that sort of ignoring your own end of the ice will not serve us.
Management aside, most people never gave Huet much of a chance this year.
It can be argued that he did nothing to deserve the chance he is getting this year other than they are paying him a lot so they better play him.
Those that ignore history are destined to repeat its mistakes.
What we are seeing now is what we saw last year.
As Albert Einstein said: Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity.
Huet will remain #1 until his save percentage dips to .750
In the 20 years I have spent following the Hawks I have watched hundreds of games where the Hawks completely dominated the other team, yet didn't get the W because the other goalie "stood on his head." If Dale Tallon wasn't blaming the officiating in the post game show the hot goalie was the next reason the Hawks usually lost.
Since Belfour left, I can't recall very many games where our goalie "stood on this head" and won the game for the Hawks.
Huet will never be that shut down goalie who can steal games when the team isn't playing well up front.
@JebJeb> you're right, and that is what the Blackhawks have to deal with. Goaltenders who 'stand on their head' simply don't fall out of the sky and into a GM's lap.
Actually, the Hawks haven't had a Cup-winning goalie since Glenn Hall. And that's only because they played defense that was as good as their offense.
And Eddie had to leave Chicago to win his Stanley ring.
Tim, you make some excellent arguments in favor of starting Huet tonight.
One wonders, though, with the Blackhawks playing visibly better defense in front of Niemi than they have for Cristo, whether the issue of confidence runs deeper than just Huet himself.
The Hawks have a bad habit of getting sloppy in this respect. They had terrible lapses defensively more than once last season and in the playoffs, and they've shown the same tendency this year.
That said, getting Huet away from the boo-birds at the UC and letting him start the road game might be a safer bet.
But either way, the Hawks have to get their act together as a team, and not just depend on their offensive talent to score their way out of trouble. Look across to the Caps (a team with several similarities to the Hawks in terms of their style) and see how they have hit a wall early.
A win tonight is critical, no matter who starts...as they will be throughout the year, the competition in the Central being more intense.
You make a lot of good points.
because Khabi bailed them out over & over.
Huet hasn't done that & players, especially young ones, can lose confidence quickly in their goalie who, at least in their eyes, ain't cutting it.
Khabi was a proven veteran goalie who won a cup - so he automatically had the respect & confidence of the young team in front of him. Huet not so much (& that is born out by the two goalies records last year playing behind the same team).
I said all last year the hawks needed to tighten up defensively, but it seems they made a conscious decision to stress offense, i.e., go with the hi-reward, but low percentage stretch passes, try to play a puck possession game with campbell & keith & other D leading or joining the rush, pinching in the offensive zone, etc. you might get away (i.e. win) with that if you have great goaltending, but if you don't, you are going nowhere fast.
I think they are looking at Detroit as the model (which has gotten away with good to average goaltending for years) but Detroit's defensive game (including top forwards datsyuk & zetterberg) is more committed, more experienced, & all around better.
Since it is difficult to get an entire team to change their game to focus more on D, the hawks may decide it is easier to find a goalie who can support their chosen style rather than change the way they play.
>He needs to stop the shots one would expect an NHL goalie to stop
>If he consistently eliminates the 1+ softee per game, all would probably be fine
>As Tim said, a big save now and then, is also what NHL #1s do
>I'm sure all Hawk fans would love NOT to have Huet the focus of their discussions
>But when your goalie style is undefinable, you better be make it work (like Hasek) or Rockford will be your new home
If anyone knows where the chinks in Nik's armor are, it ought to be the Hawks. I hope they capitalize on this knowledge and fire away at these weak spots relentlessly. As for who should be between the pipes for us, I don't really care, but Huet came up large during that recent marathon shootout.
Huet cannot come to terms mentally with being the going to guy. Quenn should split time between the two goalies and take some pressure off Huet. Seemed to work last year. I know we pay him a ton but I believe he can still shine if he does not have this over his head.
First let me start by saying that I think Huet is average at best. I thought Dale was crazy to sign him to the huge deal after they found out Habby was not worth his huge deal. I am under the opinion that only a handfull of goalies in the NHL are worth big contracts. Goalies are like RB's in the NFL. A very few are great, most are average and a few stink. But at the same time some might be average, but stat wise might look great because of the system they play in.
Now on to the "other" issues. This Hawks defense flat out stinks at time. Just like the first period of the Flames game. Just don't look at shots against....look at the quality of chances the teams have. One team might get 40 shots on goal and the other team 20. But the team with 20 shots had 10 great opportunities, while the team with 40 shots really had only 4-5 great chances.
The Hawks problem is they have way too many D-men who are aggresive offensive minded and give up way to many odd man rushes for the other team. So even though the Hawks outshoot the other team on most nights the other team gets more high % scoring chances.
Now add that to an average at best goalie in Huet and you have an issue. I don't think Niemi is the answer either since he looks like a flopping fish out of water after most saves and gave up 2 of the worst goals of the year after Huet was pulled after the first 3 goals onlt to see Niemi give up 2 bad goals. The half ice dump-in 2 bouncer was pathetic.
My opinion is trade one of the offensive minded D-men for a shut down defense and if Huet doesn't get better pick up a vet goalie for the remainder of the year.
Huet has shown that he gives up way too many soft goals to be depended on to win the Stanley Cup. The Detroit game last week was a perfect example. Osgood made the saves necessary to win the game, Huet didn't. That's the difference between winning and losing the Cup.
Huet was a statue on the goal scored by Jarome Iginla the other night. Perhaps the defense let him down in the first period, but there's simply no excuse for allowing 3 goals in 5 shots.
Huet should have a great game tonight only to stick it back at Khabby. These games are so important to win now so that at the end of the year you are not fighting for a spot. If he plays poorly I could see him being sent down in Nov to Rockford. Why not? Carolina did it with Arbe before the lock out. He was making about 2.5 a year. Huet's money then comes off the books. I could see Rocky doing that because this team is making a run and hell he might do it any ways because of cap issues for next year. Kane, Toews and Keith are more important to the future of this team then Huet.
There seems to be an unwritten rule in the NHL, that is you pay a guy NHL starter pay, he does.
This then keeps the emphasis away from the GM for acquiring him and the coach about not playing him.
It is embarrassment to not quickly show that starter his way out of the organization.
The Hawks after being unable to dump Knabby, and in reverse, lit a fire in him similar to the playing of backup Grahame did in Tampa.
I think they will make a decision very soon and either play Niemi much more than they planned.
(They were planning to play Huet into a workhorse, something he hasn't reached with any team.) Now they they may have to give Niemi far more audition time if he can take the reigns.
I just don't see takers for Huet in the same way there were none for Knabby during the season due to the CAP.
There will be opportunities later for a vet goalie in a trade, but that makes HIM the guy for the playoffs and your young club?
I think that even giving Niemi the reigns means the team enters the playoff (if goaltending and run and gun LEAD them into the playoff) on a thin wire similar to the one the walk with Huet in net.
"There seems to be an unwritten rule in the NHL, that is you pay a guy NHL starter pay, he does."
coaches who start (or play) guys based on pay instead of performance, are losers & end up losing their job sooner than most.
if there is a sure fire way to kill motivation on a team, it is to award ice-time not based on-ice performance, but based on contract status.
that is how the hawks unfortunately operated under www - if he paid a guy a lot, he expected to see him a lot - even if other guys deserved more ice time.
I see James Wisniewskiis again out with an injury.
Love they way he plays but his style is one that seems to bring him hospital time, and beside his upcoming UFA status last year, that was why he was not resigned.
It is nice to think of him as being part of a Hawk defense, but you just can't count on him to be in there regular....
Yep. Back in goes the Pastry.
As I said before, it is even money he will be great tonight.
Then all the Hueters will trumpet to the highlands....until the guy perfoms like a soft tomato in the net again.....then it will be even money he will be great the game after that....until he performs like a soft tomato in the net again....
See a trend? It was there last year. It was there in the playoffs vs. the Wings.
The Pastry cannot be trusted game in and game out.
Pure and simple. Not Cup material.
I say come back with Niemi and see what he does. You didn't bring him from Finland to be a back up. Give the kid a chance in a game at home against Khabibulin. I still say Bourques goal wasn;'t soft. It was a lazer of a wrist shot just under the cross bar. The fluke goal took a bad hop.
Time for a new young goalie to lead us, as did Belfour when he came up. Funny, this organization can find great goalies, prepare them, prime them, and then after 3 years give up on them already. a couple of years later your playing against and have trouble scoring on a Hasek, or John Anderson. And if our thinking doesn't change, it will be a Crawford or Niemi.
So I say let's go with Niemi now and see what he's got
just sayin'
I agree Cup. You've got to put Huet right back out there. It's his job to go out and earn the respect of his teammates and the fans by showing he can do the job he's being paid (or overpaid) for. To start spoon feeding him games to keep the pressure off of him isn't going to do anything for his confidence.
The Hawks are leading the league in shots against per game only giving up an average of 21.8 shots per game. I guarantee you any other goalie in the league would love to be in the position of playing for a team with such offensive firepower and giving up so few shots per night.
As far as plan B or C goes, I personally wouldn't have any problem in letting Niemi get his feet wet and learn and I think the fans would give him room to grow with the team knowing he's young. I think what burns the fans about Huet is that he's being paid so much to be the #1 guy and yet he plays so poorly and seems to have major confidence issues.
It's time to step up and face the music. If that music is a chorus of boos, it will be deserved.
If Huet doesn't have the mental meddle for a regular season game, he sure as heck won't have it in the playoffs. What I don't get is how he wasn't ready for Monday after arguably being the hero on Saturday. I was at the game in the SRO section and the crowd was chanting HU-ET HU-ET during the shoot out. I thought that would be a huge boost for him and that he'd pick up his play.
START HIM TONIGHT. It's still early and the Hawks only have one loss. Huet's gotta be feeling the pressure now. We will see whether he steps up or goes down (lol).
I really really want this guy to succeed here but I'm losing more faith in him every time he lets in a softie.
Just coming from a goalie's perspective, I'm not so sure that every goalie in the league would love to see just 21.8 shots per game, especially with the scoring chances that have been given up by this aggressive defense. Tough to play in net that way, with just a great scoring chance scattered here and there with a bunch of standing around in between. Hard to get a feel for the puck. Agreed with the offense though. Any goalie would love to play behind a team that can score in bunches.
Of course, this is not an excuse. There are going to be games on both sides of this coin. An NHL goaltender should be mentally focused enough to be able to deal with any situation, whether he is getting peppered or having a slow night. Huet HAS to improve on making not just the saves he's supposed to, but coming up with a big save to bail out mistakes in front of him, or powerplay chances against. Definitely throw him back into the fire tonight.
With all of the Huet chatter combined with Bulin being back it should provide what is needed for another entertaining game at the UC tonight. I'd be surprised if Huet doesn't get the start. There's no sense protecting him at this point. He either has to pick up his game or give management enough reasons to go to Plan B. Neither thing will happen if you start cherry picking games for him. And you definitely can't be scared to throw him out there in front of the home crowd. The crowd was rightfully tough on him Monday night but most smart fans would much prefer that Huet plays well as forcing the Hawks to go to Plan B and maybe even C and D during the middle of the season is bound to set them back a little.
I also want to see the team defense at a high level when the game starts tonight and not after 2 or 3 breakaways are given up. A PP goal or two is also on the wish list.