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The Cristobal Huet Thread


mathieug

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One guy that is being complety ignored is Tomas Vokoun. He has very similar numbers to Kiprussof, and he doesn't have the same kind of defense in front of him. I think he deserves to be a top 3 nomination. The others should be Kiprussof and probably Lundqvist. I would also strongly consider Roberto Luongo, who's performing miracles in front of the Panthers' net.

I'm sorry for Huet, but all of these awards with the exception of Bill Masterdon should go to players who have performed all season long. You cannot give either the Vezina or the Hart to a guy that has started playing in January. He's been fantastic, but it was just too late. Should he be considered, maybe, as in "Wow, this guy was really great, but I have to give my vote to somebody else...". Any serious nominee should at the very least have started half of his team's (or combined teams if he was traded) games. If I were the commish, I would even consider putting a restriction for a minimum of 45-50 games.

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I would say Huet is definitely going to be nominated but that he should be runner-up to Kiprussoff. Huet has been the best goalie of the year and that's what the award goes to but on the other hand he hasn't played enough games to win the award. But if you're simply looking for the best goalie in the league this seaosn then it's that French guy. He's in the same boat as Tim Thomas - mid-season miracles who haven't played much. I would nominate Lundqvist too and possibly Luongo or Manny Fernandez.

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I would say Huet is definitely going to be nominated but that he should be runner-up to Kiprussoff. Huet has been the best goalie of the year and that's what the award goes to but on the other hand he hasn't played enough games to win the award. But if you're simply looking for the best goalie in the league this seaosn then it's that French guy. He's in the same boat as Tim Thomas - mid-season miracles who haven't played much. I would nominate Lundqvist too and possibly Luongo or Manny Fernandez.

You could also argue that J-S Aubin was the best goalie in the NHL even though he's only played 3 games. Of course, that's an extreme example, but it just shows that you have to draw the line somewhere. Where is Huet? Is he past that line, or is he still behind?

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Hey were not even sure that Huet is a true number 1. 30 odd games does not make a season. I'm quite sure he's capable of being a number 1, but we won't know till next year.

I think Huet is definitely a #1. His career trajectory reminds me of Hasek's - elite goaltenders in Europe, brief NA minor pro careers, then backups for a time in the NHL (Hasek in Chicago/Buffalo, Huet in LA/MTL) before snatching the #1 job by outplaying the incumbents (remember, Buffalo brought in Grant Fuhr to be #1). I'm thinking that Huet is a "late bloomer" like Hasek was... he's been excellent as a Euro goalie, an AHL goalie, a backup in the NHL, and a short-term #1. There's no reason to think he won't succeed over 60 GP.

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Everyone is forgetting that a big reason why Huet hasn't played as many games is that he was injured to start the season. It's not like he was playing the back-up role for the other half of the season.

I know it's impossible to know if he hadn't been injured and not come in at just about the right moment that he would have had the same success he's had thus far. But, I believe it would have happened. It seems like Huet is a goalie who has been continuously progressing through out the past couple of seasons.

As for some other goalies who could make the list: I agree on the Vokoun point, he's been great. Also, Legace has done a very steady and consistent job in Detroit to help them to the top of the league.

(And congrats to Huet of course on his weekly honors!)

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I think Huet is definitely a #1. His career trajectory reminds me of Hasek's - elite goaltenders in Europe, brief NA minor pro careers, then backups for a time in the NHL (Hasek in Chicago/Buffalo, Huet in LA/MTL) before snatching the #1 job by outplaying the incumbents (remember, Buffalo brought in Grant Fuhr to be #1). I'm thinking that Huet is a "late bloomer" like Hasek was... he's been excellent as a Euro goalie, an AHL goalie, a backup in the NHL, and a short-term #1. There's no reason to think he won't succeed over 60 GP.

Key word there is think. I think he probably is as well. He definitly looks like it. But until he plays a whole year, 55-60 games, we won't know. Hopefully we'll find out next year

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Key word there is think. I think he probably is as well. He definitly looks like it. But until he plays a whole year, 55-60 games, we won't know. Hopefully we'll find out next year

Actually, I would say it takes more than a single great season for a player to be considered great. Any idiot can have superstar numbers one season, but being great over a long period of time, now that's great! Too many players come out of nowhere to put 1 or 2 great seasons just to disappear again.

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OK thats it I've gotten sick of reading this in the TSN scouting report

CRISTOWALL HUET's Scouting Report

Assets Has a wealth of International (including Olympic) experience, so he rarely gets rattled by pressure situations. Is somewhat of a late bloomer.

Flaws Is physically limited and will never be more than a backup netminder in the NHL. Needs to learn shooters' tendencies better.

Career potential No. 2 goalie.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/teams/players/bio/?id=2311&hubname=

I sent them a small letter to update it! Unless its for Fantasy hockey league issues ...it should change by now!

At least his career potential!

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Actually, I would say it takes more than a single great season for a player to be considered great. Any idiot can have superstar numbers one season, but being great over a long period of time, now that's great! Too many players come out of nowhere to put 1 or 2 great seasons just to disappear again.

Sweet! I've still got a chance! :D

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Just thought if anyone was interested in numbers being thrown around for Huet at the end of the season.

Spector's Hockey

HUET COULD BE POPULAR UFA.

OTTAWA SUN: Bruce Garrioch reports Montreal Canadiens GM Bob Gainey and goaltender Cristobal Huet have agreed not to hold contract discussions until the season is over. An unrestricted free agent this summer, Huet will be looking at a major raise from the $456K he's made this season, based on his strong play which has saved the Canadiens season. Should the Habs fail to re-sign him, there will be no shortage of suitors for Huet's services, as Garrioch suggests "Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver, Tampa Bay and St. Louis" could be interested.

Spector's Note: Don't expect Huet to become an unrestricted free agent. Gainey didn't trade away Jose Theodore to lose Huet this summer. Huet's agent will probably seek between $3.5 -$4.5 million per season, and the Habs will happily pay it, especially if Huet carries them deep into the playoffs.

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Just thought if anyone was interested in numbers being thrown around for Huet at the end of the season.

Spector's Hockey

Spector's Note: Don't expect Huet to become an unrestricted free agent. Gainey didn't trade away Jose Theodore to lose Huet this summer. Huet's agent will probably seek between $3.5 -$4.5 million per season, and the Habs will happily pay it, especially if Huet carries them deep into the playoffs.

Between 3.5 - 4.5? Yeah right. That's not going to happen.

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Spector's Note: Don't expect Huet to become an unrestricted free agent. Gainey didn't trade away Jose Theodore to lose Huet this summer. Huet's agent will probably seek between $3.5 -$4.5 million per season, and the Habs will happily pay it, especially if Huet carries them deep into the playoffs.

Now, that would be stupid. Giving Huet around 4M would be a foolish move, and the worst thing is that a GM somewhere (probably Gainey) will do just that. The owners locked up the players, and "stole" a full year's worth of hockey from the fans because of their stupidity, and the fact is that no matter what's in the CBA, stupid owners will remain stupid.

This is Huet's first great season, and hopefully he will do it again in the future, but you should never give a large contract to a player who has only ever had one great year, no matter how great he was. Boston was smart; they resigned Tim Thomas, whose situatuion is somewhat similar to Huet's, to a 3-year contract for a little more than a million per season. In Huet's case, I would either sign him for 1 year at 1.5M , or for 2 years at 2M pers season. If after that he's still great, then he deserves a larger contract.

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Now, that would be stupid. Giving Huet around 4M would be a foolish move, and the worst thing is that a GM somewhere (probably Gainey) will do just that. The owners locked up the players, and "stole" a full year's worth of hockey from the fans because of their stupidity, and the fact is that no matter what's in the CBA, stupid owners will remain stupid.

This is Huet's first great season, and hopefully he will do it again in the future, but you should never give a large contract to a player who has only ever had one great year, no matter how great he was. Boston was smart; they resigned Tim Thomas, whose situatuion is somewhat similar to Huet's, to a 3-year contract for a little more than a million per season. In Huet's case, I would either sign him for 1 year at 1.5M , or for 2 years at 2M pers season. If after that he's still great, then he deserves a larger contract.

Similar situation ?

Huet will be an unristricted free agent,....any teams are free to make him offers.

Huet has had a short but spectacular season,...he also have 2 years experience in the NHL.

He has no strings attached and many GMs would be ready to bet big dollards on him.

If Thomas had shared a similar situation while negociating......I doubt he would have accepted

to sign a 3 year contract at one million a year........even in march.

Edited by PB
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Now, that would be stupid. Giving Huet around 4M would be a foolish move, and the worst thing is that a GM somewhere (probably Gainey) will do just that. The owners locked up the players, and "stole" a full year's worth of hockey from the fans because of their stupidity, and the fact is that no matter what's in the CBA, stupid owners will remain stupid.

This is Huet's first great season, and hopefully he will do it again in the future, but you should never give a large contract to a player who has only ever had one great year, no matter how great he was. Boston was smart; they resigned Tim Thomas, whose situatuion is somewhat similar to Huet's, to a 3-year contract for a little more than a million per season. In Huet's case, I would either sign him for 1 year at 1.5M , or for 2 years at 2M pers season. If after that he's still great, then he deserves a larger contract.

Your reasoning is good. I hope Gainey can get Huet and his agent to agree. Or you might see Huet get 4 mill from Toronto, St.louis, eewwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!! Toronto....Now that would suck.......

Hopefully Gainey can have him signed before Toronto makes a dumb ass offer.

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What I expect (and would do myself) is give Huet a 2 year contract of around $1.5-2M while ading bonuses to the contract for if he finishes in the top 5 in Save %, shutouts, GAA, etc, etc... It's a much safer way to give a one-hit player the 4 million dollars.

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What I expect (and would do myself) is give Huet a 2 year contract of around $1.5-2M while ading bonuses to the contract for if he finishes in the top 5 in Save %, shutouts, GAA, etc, etc... It's a much safer way to give a one-hit player the 4 million dollars.

But your still tying up $4 Million in salary cap space. Its going to be very interesting to see what happens with the goaltending situation over the summer. Especially with Aebischer having turned it around the last few games. If Aebischer proves capable, maybe oyu trade the most expensive goalie and keep the cheaper one.

It'll definitley be interesting.

Edited by kaos
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OK thats it I've gotten sick of reading this in the TSN scouting report

CRISTOWALL HUET's Scouting Report

Assets Has a wealth of International (including Olympic) experience, so he rarely gets rattled by pressure situations. Is somewhat of a late bloomer.

Flaws Is physically limited and will never be more than a backup netminder in the NHL. Needs to learn shooters' tendencies better.

Career potential No. 2 goalie.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/teams/players/bio/?id=2311&hubname=

I sent them a small letter to update it! Unless its for Fantasy hockey league issues ...it should change by now!

At least his career potential!

Is La Presse reading HW?

Urgent : mettre à jour le curriculum vitae de Huet

http://www.cyberpresse.ca/article/20060412...S01/604120892/0

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Since when do 34 games prove greatness? I love what Cristobal has done this season, and we might not even have made the playoffs without him this season. However, I'm sorry, it's only been a few months.

People talk about him like he was the real deal, like he's the new Dominator (in the sense that he's a very late bloomer). I'm not saying he can't be, but it will take a lot more than 34 regular season games for him to prove to me that he's the real deal. For all we know, he could crumble starting next game, and he'll end end up in the Swiss Elite Leage next season.

His resume on TSN defenitely needs to be updated, but I wouldn't quite put franchise goaltender as his potential just yet... Number 1A would more appropriate until he does it again next season.

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People are so desperate for a superstar in Montreal:

Huet plays great after a career of being a backup... now he's the best goalie in the league.

Higgins gets a hot scoring streak... now Koivu is slowing him down

Ribeiro gets a 65-point season after 5 mediocre years... now he's the new Gretzky

Markov has a great season... now he's deserves the Norris

Perezhogin had a great start... people said he would challenge Ovechkin and Crosby

Meanwhile, many people spit on Koivu even though he's been by far our best player for over a decade now, and pretty the only star player besides maybe Recchi, Markov, and Kovalev. He's been consistently good - sometimes great, especially in the playoffs - despite many personal challenges (many injuries, cancer). Many keep blaming him for the atrocious decade the Montreal Canadiens has just lived, even though the greatest of all times (pick any, even Greztky) would have never lead to this much farther than Koivu did. He's done good with nothing, and just imagine what Koivu could have done if he had been better surrounded (i.e. if he had played in Detroit).

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Since when do 34 games prove greatness? I love what Cristobal has done this season, and we might not even have made the playoffs without him this season. However, I'm sorry, it's only been a few months.

Exactly, thats why I argue with people who want him listed as a Vezina trophy candidate. Yes he's played very well, but Kipprusoff and Turco are much more deserving for having done what Huet has done over the whole season. Both have 40+ wins and Kipprusoff has more shutouts. Lundqvist is more deserving as well, although he's played less games then Kipprusoff and Turco and thats whats hurting him.

People are so desperate for a superstar in Montreal:

Yes we are desperate. Its been 10 years since we've traded away St. Patrick. Most other teams in the leauge have one, orhave had one in the last 10 years. We due for a superstar

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