Nikolai Khabibulin
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| Position | Goaltender |
| Catches | Left |
| Nickname(s) | Khabby, The Bulin Wall[1] |
| Height Weight |
6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 208 lb (94 kg/14 st 12 lb) |
| NHL Team F. teams |
Chicago Blackhawks Tampa Bay Lightning Phoenix Coyotes Winnipeg Jets |
| Nationality |  Russia |
| Born | January 13, 1973 , Sverdlovsk, USSR |
| NHL Draft | 204th overall, 1992 Winnipeg Jets |
| Pro career | 1994 – present |
Nikolai Ivanovich Khabibulin (Russian: Николай Иванович Хабибулин, Nikolaj Ivanovič Chabibulin; born January 13, 1973 in Sverdlovsk, USSR, now Yekaterinburg, Russia), nicknamed "the Bulin Wall", is an professional ice hockey goaltender, currently with the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League. His abilities have been recognized with four appearances in the NHL All-Star Game and two Olympic medals. He is the first Russian goalie ever to win the Stanley Cup.
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[edit] Playing career
He was selected in the ninth round of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by the Winnipeg Jets. In the 1993–94 season Nikolai played with the touring Russian Penguins and by the start of the NHL season in 1994 was playing in the NHL. In 1996, he moved with the Jets to Phoenix, Arizona, where they became the Coyotes. In his three seasons in Phoenix, he played in seventy games twice and in sixty games the third season, a heavy workload for a goaltender. Although the Coyotes made the playoffs each of these years, some claimed that this heavy workload led Khabibulin to be fatigued for the playoffs, contributing to the team's failure to make it to the second round of the playoffs.
After the 1998–99 season, Nikolai became embroiled in a bitter contract dispute with the Coyotes, and ended up holding out for an entire season. During this year, he played for the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the International Hockey League, earning the league's MVP trophy. On March 5, 2001, Khabibulin was traded to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Ruslan Zainullin, Mike Johnson, Paul Mara, and a second round draft pick. He quickly signed a contract with Tampa Bay, and by the next season, he was back to being a premier goaltender. He continued to play well in Tampa, helping them to the playoffs in 2003 and leading them to a Stanley Cup Championship in 2004. Unlike his time in Phoenix, Khabibulin could enjoy extended rest when needed due to the skill of his backup, John Grahame. He is one of many Russian players to return to their homeland to play during the 2004–05 NHL lockout. From November 2004, he had been playing for the Ak Bars club in Kazan. Under the new Collective Bargaining Agreement ratified by the NHLPA in July 2005, Khabibulin became a free agent. Khabibulin signed a four-year, $27 million deal with the Chicago Blackhawks on August 5, 2005.
[edit] Career statistics
[edit] Regular season
| Season | Team | League | GP | W | L | T/OTL | MIN | GA | SO | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991–92 | HC CSKA Moscow | CIS | 2 | -- | -- | -- | 34 | 2 | 0 | 3.53 | -- |
| 1992–93 | HC CSKA Moscow | CIS | 13 | -- | -- | -- | 491 | 27 | -- | 3.30 | -- |
| 1993–94 | HC CSKA Moscow | CIS | 46 | -- | -- | -- | 2625 | 116 | 3 | 2.65 | -- |
| 1993–94 | Russian Penguins | IHL | 12 | 2 | 7 | 2 | 639 | 47 | 0 | 4.41 | .873 |
| 1994–95 | Springfield Falcons | AHL | 23 | 9 | 9 | 3 | 1241 | 80 | 0 | 3.87 | .874 |
| 1994–95 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 26 | 8 | 9 | 4 | 1339 | 76 | 0 | 3.40 | .895 |
| 1995–96 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 53 | 26 | 20 | 3 | 2914 | 152 | 2 | 3.13 | .908 |
| 1996–97 | Phoenix Coyotes | NHL | 72 | 30 | 33 | 6 | 4091 | 193 | 7 | 2.83 | .908 |
| 1997–98 | Phoenix Coyotes | NHL | 70 | 30 | 28 | 10 | 4026 | 184 | 4 | 2.74 | .900 |
| 1998–99 | Phoenix Coyotes | NHL | 63 | 32 | 23 | 7 | 3657 | 130 | 8 | 2.13 | .920 |
| 1999–00 | Long Beach Ice Dogs | IHL | 33 | 21 | 11 | 1 | 1936 | 59 | 5 | 1.83 | .930 |
| 2000–01 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 123 | 6 | 0 | 2.93 | .913 |
| 2001–02 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 70 | 24 | 32 | 10 | 3896 | 153 | 7 | 2.36 | .920 |
| 2002–03 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 65 | 30 | 22 | 11 | 3787 | 156 | 4 | 2.47 | .911 |
| 2003–04 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 55 | 28 | 19 | 7 | 3274 | 127 | 3 | 2.33 | .910 |
| 2004–05 | Aq Bars Kazan | RSL | 24 | 16 | 5 | 3 | 1457 | 40 | 5 | 1.65 | -- |
| 2005–06 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 50 | 17 | 26 | 6 | 2815 | 157 | 0 | 3.35 | .886 |
| 2006–07 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 60 | 25 | 26 | 5 | 3425 | 163 | 1 | 2.86 | .902 |
| 2007–08 | Chicago Blackhawks | NHL | 50 | 23 | 20 | 6 | 2891 | 127 | 2 | 2.63 | .909 |
| NHL Totals | 636 | 274 | 259 | 75 | 36237 | 1624 | 38 | 2.69 | .908 | ||
*Beginning in the 2005–06 NHL season, regular season games could no longer end in a tie.
[edit] Playoffs
| Season | Team | League | GP | W | L | MIN | GA | SO | GAA | SV% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993–94 | HC CSKA Moscow | CIS | 3 | -- | -- | 193 | 11 | -- | 3.41 | -- |
| 1995–96 | Winnipeg Jets | NHL | 6 | 2 | 4 | 359 | 19 | 0 | 3.17 | .911 |
| 1996–97 | Phoenix Coyotes | NHL | 7 | 3 | 4 | 426 | 15 | 1 | 2.11 | .932 |
| 1997–98 | Phoenix Coyotes | NHL | 4 | 2 | 1 | 185 | 13 | 0 | 4.21 | .877 |
| 1998–99 | Phoenix Coyotes | NHL | 7 | 3 | 4 | 449 | 18 | 0 | 2.40 | .924 |
| 1999–00 | Long Beach Ice Dogs | IHL | 5 | 2 | 3 | 321 | 15 | 0 | 2.80 | -- |
| 2002–03 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 10 | 5 | 5 | 644 | 26 | 0 | 2.42 | .913 |
| 2003–04 | Tampa Bay Lightning | NHL | 23 | 16 | 7 | 1401 | 40 | 5 | 1.71 | .933 |
| 2004–05 | Aq Bars Kazan | RSL | 2 | 0 | 2 | 118 | 6 | 0 | 3.05 | -- |
| NHL Totals | 57 | 31 | 25 | 3464 | 131 | 6 | 2.26 | .922 | ||
[edit] International play
| Olympic medal record | |||
| Men's ice hockey | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 1992 Albertville | Ice hockey | |
| Bronze | 2002 Salt Lake City | Ice hockey | |
Khabibulin is an established goaltender for the Russian national team, having won an Olympic gold medal with the CIS in 1992, and a bronze medal with Russia in 2002. Controversy arose after the '92 gold medal win when legendary Russian coach Viktor Tikhonov kept a medal for himself instead of allowing the backup Khabibulin to have one, as coaches are not awarded medals in Olympic hockey. This prompted Khabibulin to boycott playing for the Russians in later international tournaments[citation needed], although he returned to the Russian squad for the 2002 games in Salt Lake.
