Waxing Nostalgic with Khabibulin
During the pre-game show of FSN Arizona Monday night, my wife and I became sort of nostalgic. The Coyotes faced the Tampa Bay Lightning, and we followed that team closely. When we lived in Florida, we saw every game, for better and for worse, and when it became better, the results were awesome.
In 2003, we saw the Lightning survive the first round of the playoffs and move on, only to get eliminated in the second. In 2004, they won the Stanley Cup. In 2004-2005, there was a work stoppage and we arrived in Arizona during the summer of 2005 to adopt the home team as our own. We still kept tabs on the crew out East, and learned through painful experience that after that Cup run, they became a shell of its former self.
The connections between the two clubs were somewhat tangential. Former Coyotes assistant coach John Tortorella was the head coach of the Lightning and turned that ship right around, and the goaltender of record for both playoff runs (inluding the Cup run of 2004) was Nikolai Khabibulin.
As expected, after winning the Stanley Cup, his contract was up and he wanted a pay raise. Unfortunately, he had competition between three young players and a savvy defenseman (Vinny Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Brad Richards, and Danny Boyle respectively).
Now, the Bolts are not the same club. It seems that Steven Stamkos is the goal scorer and Lecavalier and St. Louis are struggling to put the puck in the net. Welcome to aging boys, it’s hell, eh?
Believe it or not, as fun as it is to wax nostaligic over times gone by, the purpose of today’s thought processes are truly not related to the Lightning. Rather, it’s the goalter Khabibulin.
When Khabibulin went to the Lightning, his preparation routine was coffee and cigarrettes before the game. Someone over there (Jeff Reese perhaps) drilled some sense into the often quizzical netminder to get healthy or get prepared to be shipped out. He had a bad stretch of games during his Cup run, but got it together at the right time.
Now, after leaving the goaltending carousel in Chicago, he finds himself in Edmonton, playing with the Oilers franchise with an incredible history. He might have been one answer for their aspirations for another visit in the Stanley Cup Finals. Plus, it would have been pretty cool to see him play yet again against the club he shared the goaltending load with many seasons ago.
Unfortunately, it may not happen. It looks like Khabibulin has back issues…and is day-to-day missing his start against the Blackhawks on Sunday.
The Desert Dogs are 13 – 9 -1 and the Oilers are 9 – 11 – 3; I bet most of the world would have thought those records would be reversed with the Coyotes taking more of the worst of it. Hopefully, they will continue their hard work and good fortune continues for them with their own Battle of Alberta.
If you are looking for some pre-game material, this is what I’ve read today:
