Antti Out; Marty In. Huet On His Way To Switzerland.

The Chicago Blackhawks have decided to walk from Antti Niemi’s $2.75 million dollar contract awarded to him through arbitration.


Instead, however, they have signed veteran goaltender Marty Turco.


Antti Niemi was the number one in Chicago last year and was a key part in winning the Stanley Cup. After replacing Cristobal Huet, Niemi was 26-7-4 with 7 shutouts in 39 games, 16-6 in the playoffs, a 2.63 GAA, and a .910 save percentage, and the cap hit from his one year deal was $826,375. Not bad for a 26 year old rookie. The bad thing for the young Finn is the fact he no longer has a team to play for. While there’s no disputing the fact that Niemi played well and patched their void in a struggling number one, Huet, I also believe Niemi should have had a slice of the humble pie after his day with Lord Stanley.

"We exhausted all of our options to make this work," said Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman.

Niemi, in his own right, thought he was worth $3.0 million and was awarded by an arbitrator $2.75 million. This is a contract that Chicago cannot justify accepting. Had Niemi personally won them the cup in a scintillating debut it might be somewhat of a different story. The Blackhawks have lost now eight roster players since their Stanley Cup win. Dustin Byfuglien, Andrew Ladd, Ben Eager, Kris Versteeg, Colin Fraser, Brent Sopel, Adam Burish, and now goaltender Antti Niemi.  This was necessary roster shake-up to get the Blackhawks under the salary cap, and a necessary risk to win a Cup.


Marty Turco has been signed for $1.3 million dollars on a one year deal. Turco, 35, became a free agent at the end of an abysmal year for Dallas. He spent all ten years of his career in Dallas becoming the franchise leader in wins, shutouts, and games played. He is second among active goalies in GAA, and sixth in wins.

"This is the direction that made the most sense. You have to have flexibility within your roster and this was the best way to defend the Cup." Said Bowman. "We talked it over and Marty is the guy we certainly had interest in for a long time here."

Turco is the perfect solution in Chicago, and will provide a proven net presence to keep them going strong to defend the Cup. It is evident that Turco wants to be there and believes he can win the championship that has eluded him in his illustrious career.

“Joining the defending Stanley Cup champion Chicago Blackhawks is an unbelievable opportunity for me both professionally and personally,” said Turco in a press release. "The Blackhawks are a first-class organization in a world-class city and at this point in my career I am excited to be a part of a team that will give me such a good chance to win the Stanley Cup."

The other odd man out now is the French net minder, Cristobal Huet. The kinks need to still be worked out in terms of when he can make his transfer, but according to RDS (Monday August, 23) he has signed a one year deal with HC Fribourg-Gotteron of the Swiss National League A, and the Blackhawks have agreed to loan his services. Huet fell as the number one goaltender after posting a 26-14-4 record with a 2.50 GAA and a .895 save percentage in 48 games. He has two years left on his deal at $5.625 million that now, buried in Switzerland, will bring the Hawks back under the cap limit by $1.5 million. Huet played four years in the Swiss League before joining the Kings in 2002.


This now also enables the Blackhawks to call up long time prospect 2003 2nd round draft pick Corey Crawford. The 25 year old Montreal Native will benefit greatly playing behind veteran Marty Turco, and despite all things changing in the crease in Chi Town, everything still looks very good for the Blackhawks ahead of next year.


-Kendall Grubbs