Cristobal Huet

Jul 14, 2008 | By Ben Chaisson | Players Articles Archive

Cristobal Huet (pronounced [yˈɛt]) (born September 3, 1975 in Saint-Martin-d'Hères, France) is a French professional ice hockey goaltender, who is currently playing for the Chicago Blackhawks. Huet was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings as their seventh-round pick, 214th overall, in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, becoming the first netminder, and second player overall (after Philippe Bozon), from France to play in the NHL.

Playing career

Huet played for the Kings in the 2002–2003 and 2003–2004 seasons. He was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in a three-team deal that sent Mathieu Garon to Los Angeles and Radek Bonk from Ottawa to Montreal. During the 2004–05 NHL lockout, which caused the entire season to be cancelled, Huet trained vigorously with Michael Rosati and Ray Dyke of the Canadian Goaltending Academy, with whom he stepped up his game and perfected his technique. During the lockout Huet played for the Mannheim Eagles in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. He led the team to the finals, where it lost three straight games to Eisbären Berlin.

During the 2005–06 season, Huet blossomed by recording seven shutouts in 36 games. He eventually won the starting job in nets for the Canadiens at the expense of José Théodore, later traded to Colorado for goaltender David Aebischer.

He also won the Molson Cup in February 2006. The Molson Cup is awarded monthly to the best Montreal Canadiens' player. He won the Best Defensive Player award from the NHL during the first week of March, ousting goaltenders such as the Ottawa Senators' Ray Emery and the New Jersey Devils' Martin Brodeur, with a 3–0–0 record and a 1.67 GAA. For the second time of the year, he was named NHL Best Defensive Player on April 3 with a 3–0–0 record, a 0.65 GAA and 0.979 SV%, ousting goaltenders Martin Brodeur, Miikka Kiprusoff and Manny Legace. On April 23, in his first Stanley Cup playoffs start, Huet starred in a 6–1 win against the 2nd seed in Eastern Conference -- the Carolina Hurricanes. Huet stopped 42 of 43 shots in the contest to put the Canadiens up 1–0 in the seven game series. Two days later, Huet recorded his first overtime playoff win, when the Canadiens beat the Hurricanes 6–5 in two overtimes to take the lead 2–0 in the series. But in the next four games, Huet and the Canadiens lost games 2–1, 3–2, 2–1 and 2–1 and the series in goaltender duels with rookie Cam Ward, who took Martin Gerber's starting spot in the series, and who would later go on to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.

The Canadiens re-signed Huet in the 2006 offseason for two years at $5.75M total, earning $3.00 M the first season and $2.75 in the second.

On January 13, 2007, Huet was announced as one of the three goalies of the Eastern Conference All-Star Team in the 55th NHL All-Star Game in Dallas. A month later, however, he suffered a left hamstring injury that caused him to miss most of the final two months of the season. In his absence, the Canadiens struggled, and the team missed the postseason.

On February 26, 2008 Montreal Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey traded the French netminder to the Washington Capitals for a 2009 second-round draft pick. [1] He took over the starting position from Olaf Kolzig, and his exceptional play helped lead Washington to securing a playoff berth, where they eventually lost their opening round series against the Philadelphia Flyers in seven games.

On July 1st, the first day of unrestricted free-agency, he agreed to terms on a new 4-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks worth a total of $22.4 million, roughly $5.6 million per season.

Cristobal Huet

Playing career

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