It's nice to have a Backup

It hasn't been the ideal situation in net for the Hawks this season. Don't get me wrong, things are going fine, you just don't want to be paying two goaltenders like they're starters is all. I guess it's not such a bad thing though when one of those high paid goalies gets hurt. That's what happened toward the end of the Hawks game last night against Atlanta when Nikolai Khabibulin suffered an undisclosed injury.

I was just about to write a post about how Khabibulin has turned into the every day starter, and for good reason. It's not clear yet how serious the injury is, but Khabibulin is considered day-to-day. Chicago has called up Antti Niemi from Rockford to fill in as Huet's backup for a while.

Niemi will be up tomorrow night when the Hawks conclude their eight game road trip in St. Louis. Huet will start and should be pretty rested for the extra responsibilities. Khabibulin had started four of the last five games, including the last three.

Huet and the Blackhawks still have a lot of work to do without Khabibulin even though the road trip is ending. Five of the next seven are still away from the United Center. Without the Huet signing though, this stretch would be a hell of a lot scarier. Maybe with Toews and Sharp scoring last night the stars will get back to putting the puck in the net.