The Oilers were stuck keeping Nikolai Khabibulin but since they have him they may as well use him.
Nikolai Khabibulin was honest in his post-game assessment of not one but two highlight-reel saves against Chicago that preserved a 2-1 win over the Hawks. He admitted he was lucky but as the old saying goes you have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good. On his Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane stops maybe the Oilers netminder was both.
His double steal on the Hawks two star forwards came after a save-of-the-year candidate robbery on Detroit's Henrik Zetterberg. I guess the reason I bring this up is because for awhile I was one of "those guys."
By "those guys" I mean people who wondered why the Oilers would want a former Stanley Cup champion in net. Wasn't that hurting their chances of being a Cup winner? The theory being the worse the netminding, the worse their results and voila another lottery pick and maybe a first- or second-overall selection.
Now the biggest problem with that is three more years and about $12 million in salary. The Oilers weren't going to buy out that kind of deal. Otherwise the idea of a Devan Dubnyk-Jeff Deslauriers combo not being as strong as Khabibulin and any one of the young netminders made sense.
However when you think about it, the Oilers can't try to lose because they get paid to win. Khabibulin helps give them a better chance of one than the other.
Despite great goaltending the Oilers may still be a bottom-five club. If the Oilers can't move from 30th last year to a playoff spot this year, Khabibulin may be a better goalie than Edmonton needs but since they have him they may as well use him.
