The Chicago Blackhawks were looking for a starting goalie back in the summer of 2005, and the Dale Tallon administration signed Nikolai Khabibulin to be the backstop for the long term future of the Chicago Blackhawks.
It seemed like a lot but he was coming off a Stanley Cup Championship with the Tampa Bay Lightning so it wasn’t total unrealistic that he could be the goalie for the long term for the Chicago Blackhawks.
The Khabibulin era wasn’t what many thought it would be even though he was playing at the very tale end of the worst days of being a Chicago Blackhawks fan or player.