THN.com Blog: Huet still not among my top half
Cristobal Huet will battle Nikolai Khabibulin for the starting job in Chicago next season. (Photo by Scott Audette/NHLI via Getty Images)
Brian Costello
2008-07-06 00:18:56
Who knew Cristobal Huet was so popular.
Since mentioning him on my list of the top 10 confusing signings of the free agent season, I’ve been bombarded with feedback from fans who now want me drawn and quartered.
I said I don’t rank Huet among the top 10 or 15 goalies in the NHL, an opinion I strongly stand by. It’s not so much a criticism against Huet as it is a reflection of how strong goaltending is in the NHL these days.
Now with Chicago and signed for four years to earn $5.625 million per season, Huet ranks middle-of-the-pack among NHL starters in my opinion. I realize he was among league leaders in save percentage this past season and I’m a huge believer in the save percentage stat.
The fact of the matter is if I’m an NHL GM and I’m starting up a team and I have one year to win a championship, Huet is not among the top 10 goalies I’d pick to be my starter.
Here are 10 goalies I wouldn’t hesitate picking before Huet: Martin Brodeur, Roberto Luongo, Miikka Kiprusoff, Evgeni Nabokov, Henrik Lundqvist, J-S Giguere, Ryan Miller, Ilya Bryzgalov, Tomas Vokoun and Marty Turco.
I’d probably even pick some of this next tier of goalies before Huet: Niklas Backstrom, Vesa Toskala, Marc-Andre Fleury, Rick DiPietro, Tim Thomas, Chris Osgood, Carey Price, Cam Ward, Martin Biron and Kari Lehtonen. That’s why Huet may not be among my top 15.
There are other good goalies out there as well: Jose Theodore, Pascal Leclaire, Manny Legace, Nikolai Khabibulin, Manny Fernandez, Mathieu Garon, Jaroslav Halak, Josh Harding, Chris Mason, Dwayne Roloson, Mike Smith, Dan Ellis. It’s a very deep field.
Not including Huet among the top 10 doesn’t conflict with what NHL GMs think, either. Huet finished eighth in Vezina Trophy voting this past season. He wasn’t among the top 10 (and didn’t receive any voting points) in 2005-06 or 2006-07 Vezina voting. The 30 NHL GMs do the voting for the Vezina.
‘ELITE’ GOALIES
Pittsburgh GM Ray Shero made an interesting, carefully worded comment after signing Marc-Andre Fleury to a seven-year $35-million contract.
Shero called Fleury “one of the elite goaltenders of the game.”
At first blush, Shero is embellishing. Fleury is good, has excellent potential, but clearly isn’t one of the top four or five goalies in the NHL right now.
But then when you think about it, there must be thousands of goaltenders worldwide. Far fewer than one percent of all goalies have the ability to play pro hockey. Of that very select group, maybe only one-tenth of them have the ability to play in the NHL.
So yes indeed, Fleury is among the elite goaltenders in the game. So is Andrew Raycroft. So is Patrick Lalime. So are Curtis Sanford and Joey MacDonald. Any goalie who can manage to play in the NHL is truly among the elite.
NO BOTTLE DRIVE
Don’t feel bad for Curtis Joseph having to settle for just $700,000 this coming season as Vesa Toskala’s backup in Toronto.
Joseph has made more than $50 million over the course of his 20-year career and at 41 is the game’s elder statesman between the pipes. CuJo moved ahead of Terry Sawchuk and into fourth place in all-time goaltender victories with 449 in Calgary this past season.
Making the top three in wins won’t happen – Joseph is 35 wins behind Ed Belfour – but CuJo is sure to be a fan favorite again in his twilight season.
Expect Martin Brodeur to pass Patrick Roy in all-time wins (551) sometime in late November. Brodeur has 13 more to go.
Brian Costello is The Hockey News’s senior special editions editor and a regular contributor to THN.com. You can read his Top 10 list on Wednesdays and his blog each weekend.
For more great profiles, news and views from the world of hockey, Subscribe to The Hockey News magazine.
Jokiduc (Posted 2008-07-15 10:01:02)
Huet is the best !!!!!
Go Hawks!!!!
Vive la France
Bouche (Posted 2008-07-08 00:03:44)
Matin Brodeur is the greatest goalie of all time. He will break anearly every record in record time. He is not the product of a system or a team. He was the only superstar NJ ever had. NJ neverhad a high powered offense. Before last year it was,: Marty is just good because of the team he played for. He'll drop off when the devs start losing players like gomez and rafalski. He had a stellar season! "He's too old."they say. Can you say Vezina Trophy? again. Huet is not fit to wash marty's jock strp never mind wear it.
Martin Brodeur (Posted 2008-07-07 13:11:33)
Here's to hoping a piano falls on Tom as he walks down the street...
Tom (Posted 2008-07-07 12:35:50)
Here's to hoping Brodeur gets injured before he takes over Roy. Salut!
James Smigiel (Posted 2008-07-07 12:35:48)
Huet has brought each team as a starter to the playoffs. To say that he wil l push Khabibulan is cleche. That is the purpose of a backup. If Khabibulan should have enough motivation as it is to play for his future. In the last year of a contract as an aging goaltender isn't really much to sit back and collect on. Huet will push Khabibulan knowing that eventually he will be the starter. The signing still doesn't make a lot of sense seeing as how Corey Crawford was supposed to come in next season, back up Khabibulan, then take over the starting position. Right now, as a Hawks fan, I trust what that front office is doing; outlandish or not. The prosepcts are there, the team has improved and we will only see the benefits come in time for the playoff push.
michael frysinger (Posted 2008-07-07 10:41:13)
I'm a Canadiens fan and do like Huet. However, he isn't always dependable nor is he consistent. Whoever said he stops the difficult ones and lets the easy go through is close to the truth. Unless he begins to focus better for ALL 3 periods, he will never reach his full potential. And since I also like the Blackhawks, hope he does a better job there than in Montreal.
THE Hawks' fan (Posted 2008-07-07 09:53:12)
Huet is a solid goaltender who can make game changing saves, something that the youthful Blackhawks will need, and plus, he'll probably provide a lot more consistency that Khabibulin, who's a UFA after this season.
tom n. (Posted 2008-07-07 09:49:05)
martin brodeur is still an elite goalie? please. bounced in the first round...again. the man is old, old, old, and the devils won't make the playoffs for 5 years after he finally retires. it's time to stop the "martin man crush."
Blackhawks_fan66 (Posted 2008-07-07 07:58:00)
Rocky Wirtz has done phenomenal things to improve every aspect of the team since the old man died. I say just let the Cristobal Huet thing be and see what happens.
Petit Jean (Posted 2008-07-07 04:32:47)
Cristowall is the best.
VIVE LA FRANCE!!!
33roy (Posted 2008-07-07 03:59:48)
J'esperai bien que les Av's irai le chercher mais il est a chicago je pense qu'il est l'un des plus important gardien de la NHL car il a toujours su prouvé partout ou il est passé qu'on pouvait lui faire confiance .
Alors vivement l'année prochaine qu'il fasse remonté les hawks en hauts de tableau .
stven (Posted 2008-07-07 01:07:47)
and well Mr. costello! I see that you to like the french attitude! a little change in nhl! Ca changes! but it disturbs our cristo!!! France you salus well!
craigfell (Posted 2008-07-06 22:54:20)
Whats with people saying if Huet was on the Devils he'd be in the top 10. Brodeur is still the best goalie no matter what people say and his top D-man is Colin White, then probably Paul Martin. Not to mention his teams inability to score goals. So Huet, definately would have troubles playing with them. But about him being a top goalie, yes he may be a top 10 but I would pick about 15 other goalies to win a cup with before I touched him, hands down.
keng (Posted 2008-07-06 21:48:22)
By the way, David Krammer IS Huet. Read enough of his posts on The Hockey News and you will come to understand that.
neilw (Posted 2008-07-06 21:34:02)
Costello writes about who he'd choose to win a championship in a year, which might be a different discussion than who the top ten goalies in the league are. Semantics be damned, though. Kramer, you've convinced me. Cam Ward was not in net because the Canadians were rotating goalies. Maybe Ken Hitchcock thinks Cam Ward is a top ten goalie. Then again, maybe he thinks Pascal Leclaire is one, too. Either way, "Team" Canada didn't lose that game because of bad goaltending. They just got outplayed.
David Kramer (Posted 2008-07-06 19:17:58)
Brian Costello claims that he’s a “huge believer” in save percentage, but his conclusions are at odds with this statement. Since the lockout, among goalies playing at least 80 regular season games, Huet has the 2nd best save percentage (.921), behind only Backstrom. Among goalies playing at least 4 playoff games, he has the 10th best SP (.919). Let’s compare Huet’s regular season and playoff SP (.921/.919) since the lockout to the goalies that Costello “wouldn’t hesitate picking before Huet”: Brodeur (.918/.914), Luongo (.917/.941), Kiprusoff (.915/.920), Nabokov (.904/.912), Lundqvist (.917/.907), Giguere (.917/.906), Miller (.910/.915), Bryzgalov (.915/.937), Vokoun (.919/.902), Turco (.906/.921). Statistically, he beats them all except Luongo and possibly Bryzgalov. From these figures, it’s clear that Nabokov and Miller are vastly overrated and Huet is vastly underrated. For his “next tier,” Costello names Backstrom (.923/.911), Toskala (.904/.910), Fleury (.906/.922), DiPietro (.907/.898), Thomas (.914/.914), Osgood (.907/.930), Ward (.897/.920), Biron (.911/.904), Price (less than 80 games/.901), Lehtonen (.912/less than 4 games). Again, considering both regular season and playoff save percentage since the lockout, Huet looks better than all of them, with the possible exception of Osgood. How could anyone possibly suggest that Toskala, DiPietro, Biron or Lehtonen are better? The goalie that the Capitals wound up with, Theodore, has utterly dismal stats (.895/.904). And to say that Huet didn’t get any Vezina votes in 2005-06 just demonstrates how clueless the GMs are; Huet led the entire NHL in save percentage in 2005-06! Huet is without a doubt a top 10 goaltender.
steve (Posted 2008-07-06 16:14:25)
This is funny, 'cause Costello DID make Huets list of confused journalists...
pantang (Posted 2008-07-06 15:59:53)
One or two GK of your top have past injuries problems. I will bet nothink on Theodore for example i would like to see the caps medical tests... the question is not to build an easy journalist hit parade but to see if the french salary is right. I think it's the case and i invite you to consider the stats of Christo and the impact in the locker room...much much more than players who never speak nor talk with others...see what i mean?
greg thompson (Posted 2008-07-06 15:01:04)
hawks repeating mistakes overpaid for bulin wall. who at least won stanley cup now doing it again
bostongm (Posted 2008-07-06 14:43:11)
Huet is way better than most of the goalies you posted there buddy. He has the best save percentage,post-lock-out. When looking for a good goalie,you look at his save percentage,not the name on the back of the jersey. Worse than Timmy Thomas? Leclaire?Bryzgalov? Hhahhah. You have got to be kidding. 5.5 million per year IS the right amount. Washington did downgrade their goalie position. Huet has stolen more games than he has blown. What can i expect though hey when you guys predicted Boston and Montreal would miss the play-offs? I have more expertise than YOU guys. I wonder if you guys are hiring? I'll take your job and show you how its done.
Bruce (Posted 2008-07-06 13:41:04)
I can't see defending Huet against Costello, but here's why: in the playoffs he has not gotten done. He makes some spectacular saves and then often gets beat on routine high glove saves. IOW, there's a hole, and once he fixes it, if he fixes it, he really might be a great goalie. Now, about Fleurry, let's give him his due. He carried that team as far as they went, Crosby didn't, Malkin didn't, Michel Therien sure as hell didn't. You have to measure goalies, like quarterbacks, by how they perform in the playoffs and by that measure Fleurry played like an elite goalie and Huet did not. I don't mean elite in the clumsily encumbered sense that Costello has recast it, I mean he kept his teams in games that they wouldn't have otherwise been in, especially since the Penguins don't exactly throw up the kind of defense in front of him that Martin Brodeur has enjoyed most of his career. I'm not a fan of Fleurry, but I certainly recognized his outstanding play in that long playoff run.
Pedro (Posted 2008-07-06 13:39:03)
Yes Pascal sucks, he isn't even top 20, maybe 25th or lower, he is barely better that Marc Denis, he is in his prime and this is the most we should expect from him. I hope his agent realizes this when they hatch out his new contract. Seriously, I wouldn't take MA Fleury and a first round pick for Pazzy. BTW when Pazzy faulters, we'll have Mason to lean on.
Mike (Posted 2008-07-06 13:06:49)
Pascal Leclaire Top 10 Goalies! Impossible a top 10 goalie would win the World Championship with Team Canada if they were a top 10 goaltender
Hawks76 (Posted 2008-07-06 13:02:50)
I can see why he may not be in the top 10. The only reason the signing could be confusing is if you don't pay attention to the Hawks. Kabby's got one year left, with no one waiting in the wings. He was the best available now, and who knows who will even make it to free agency next year. Solid move by Dale.
M H (Posted 2008-07-06 12:38:37)
The Habs didn't think he could get it done in the Play-offs...But form what I seen of Huet he is a solid goalie. As far as Washington netminding concerns go they down graded. Huet is dependable when he isn't injuried, while Theodore is streaky.
Theodore when he is hot can make some saves that he shouldn't, then let in a weak one that he should have gotten. When he is cold you get the weak goals, without the miracle saves.
Huet even though he gets injuried alot will make most of the easy saves and sometimes a miraclous one. The probably is he hasn't proven he can play a full season or excell in the playoffs. But really he played for the Kings for the first half of his career. Then when the Habs made it, he lost to the eventually cup champs in Carolina. A series they probably could have won but injuries slowed them down. Then again last season against the Flyers, though I never seen any of the games I heard he was fairly weak.
But come on, the guy has only been there twice it's hard to say that he is a playoff flop just yet. He may not be top ten but he is top 15.
Robert Cherry (Posted 2008-07-06 10:11:52)
Middle of the pack. The Hawks overpaid for Huet. If the Caps and Habs thought he was that good he wouldn't be in Chicago today. He misses alot of games and looks like a deer in the headlights in the playoffs. His stats last year are boosted by his 13 regular season games in Washington at the end of the season. Even Ollie's stats improved greatly after Bouds became coach. you can't look at his numbers alone. He is solid but this league is filled with solid to great net minders.
dave Alferink (Posted 2008-07-06 06:53:05)
Really it doesnt matter (cristobal) where he rates by anyones list. If he played on the devils team we would be rating him a lot higher because of the team he plays for. Ken Dryden WAS not the best goalie of his era but his team made him look like it. depth is a good thing in goal rankings are for fun
neilw (Posted 2008-07-06 05:43:51)
Of course Bryzgalov without hesitation! Last I checked he had his name on the Stanley Cup AND the Ducks wouldn't have gotten there without him. Phoenix would have been a laughing-stock without him last year. Leclair is top ten, as well. How can you not agree with article, except that it would take a lot of beer before I chose some of those guys mentioned at the end over Huet.
Alexander Palkovsky (Posted 2008-07-06 02:34:16)
Ilya Bryzgalov without hesitation?
It is upsetting to caps fans that they lost a great STARTING goalie
Caps fan (Posted 2008-07-06 00:36:40)
I think Huet gives up rebound & hopefuly theodore will be good for the caps next season
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