Nikolai Khabibulin

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Olympic medal record
Men's ice hockey
Gold	1992 Albertville	Ice hockey

Position	Goaltender
Catches	Left
Nickname	Bulin Wall
Height Weight	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 208 lb (95 kg)
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 a goaltender for the Chicago Blackhawks. He is considered to be one of the best goalies in the NHL, as evidenced by his four appearances in the NHL All-Star Game. He is the first Russian goalie ever to win the Stanley Cup. He has also won both a gold medal and a bronze medal in the Olympic Games, playing for Russia when he won the bronze in 2002, and the CIS when he won the gold in 1992.

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 CBA ratified in July 2005, Khabibulin became a free agent. Khabibulin signed a four-year $27 million deal with the Chicago Blackhawks on August 5, 2005. Khabibulin did not play his best game, and was injured for much of the season, which contributed to the 'Hawks being one of the worst teams in the league.

[edit] Career statistics

				Regular Season									Playoffs
Season	Team	League		GP	W	L	T/OL	Min	GA	SO	GAA		GP	W	L	Min	GA	SO	GAA
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		3	-	-	193	11	-	3.41
1993-94	Russian Penguins	IHL		12	2	7	2	639	47	0	4.41		-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1994-95	Springfield Falcons	AHL		23	9	9	3	1241	80	0	3.87		-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1994-95	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		26	8	9	4	1339	76	0	3.40		-	-	-	-	-	-	-
1995-96	Winnipeg Jets	NHL		53	26	20	3	2914	152	2	3.13		6	2	4	359	19	0	3.17
1996-97	Phoenix Coyotes	NHL		72	30	33	6	4091	193	7	2.83		7	3	4	426	15	1	2.11
1997-98	Phoenix Coyotes	NHL		70	30	28	10	4026	184	4	2.74		4	2	1	185	13	0	4.21
1998-99	Phoenix Coyotes	NHL		63	32	23	7	3657	130	8	2.13		7	3	4	449	18	0	2.40
1999-00	Long Beach Ice Dogs	IHL		33	21	11	1	1936	59	5	1.83		5	2	3	321	15	0	2.80
2000-01	Tampa Bay Lightning	NHL		2	1	1	0	123	6	0	2.93		-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2001-02	Tampa Bay Lightning	NHL		70	24	32	10	3896	153	7	2.36		-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2002-03	Tampa Bay Lightning	NHL		65	30	22	11	3787	156	4	2.47		10	5	5	644	26	0	2.42
2003-04	Tampa Bay Lightning	NHL		55	28	19	7	3274	127	3	2.33		23	16	7	1401	40	5	1.71
2004-05	Aq Bars Kazan	Russian Super League		24	16	5	3	1457	40	5	1.65		2	0	2	118	6	0	3.05
2005-06	Chicago Blackhawks	NHL		50	17	26	6	2815	157	0	3.35		-	-	-	-	-	-	-
NHL Totals				526	226	213	64	29922	1334	48	2.67		57	31	25	3464	131	6	2.26

*Beginning in the 2005-06 NHL Season, regular season games could no longer end in a tie.

[edit] External links

• Nikolai Khabibulin's statistics at tsn.ca