Nikolay Khabibulin

Goalie Nikolay Khabibulin started his hockey career in 1989 with Avtomobilist Sverdlovs and from 1991-94 played with CSKA Moskva. Khabibulin had been drafted by the Vancouver Canucks of the NHL in 1992 and joined the team in 1994. In his first NHL season, in Phoenix, as the Jets became the Phoenix Coyotes, Khabibulin did not see much ice time, participating in only 26 games and spending much of his time with the Jets American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Springfield Falcons. But starting in the next season, Khabibulin played more than 60 games per season with the Coyotes until the 1999-00 season. Khabibulin did not play in the NHL for most of the 1999-00 season due to a contract dispute with the Coyotes and spent that season with Long Beach Ice Dogs of the International Hockey League (IHL), winning a James Gatschene Memorial Trophy as the league MVP that season.

In 2001, Khabibulin was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning and played there until the lockout cancelled 2004-05 season. With the Lightning, Khabibulin won a Stanley Cup in 2004. During the NHL 2004-05 lockout season, Khabibulin played in Russia with Ak Bars Kazan and in 2005 signed a four-year, $27 million deal with the Chicago Blackhawks, making him the highest paid goalie in the league. From 2009-13, Khabibulin played with the Edmonton Oilers and in 2013 he rejoined the Chicago Blackhawks.

Internationally Khabibulin won his first awards at the 1991 European Junior Championship, where he won a silver medal, and at the 1992 World Junior Championship, where he won a gold medal. Khabibulin was also selected to the Unified Team’s 1992 Olympic team as a third goaltender, but did not play a single minute during the Olympics. The decision not to use him during the Olympics led Khabibulin into conflict with Viktor Tikhonov, who was the long-time head coach of the Soviet and later Russian national teams. This was the main reason that Khabibulin was not called up to the Russian team at most major international tournaments during 1990s and early 2000s, although Khabibulin was clearly one of the top Russian goalies at that era. He played at the 1996 World Cup and 2002 Winter Olympics, when Tikhonov was not with the Russian team, winning a bronze medal at both tournaments. Khabibulin was also named to the 2006 Russian Olympic team after Tikhonov had retired from coaching, but he did not play due to injury.