Earlier this afternoon, TSN reported that the Chicago Blackhawks were taking care of their logjam in net by sawing off one of the logs -- in this case, by waiving goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. The veteran, who was in the last year of a 4-year, $27 million contract, joined the Hawks from Tampa Bay as a free agent immediately after the lockout.

Though the word is not yet official, our friends at Second City Hockey are hardly surprised:

Doesn't really come as much of a shock to anybody, most likely. The situation from last night's 4-3 win over Dallas did seem a little fishy, as he was suddenly scratched from his start in favor of Niemi, and as the [TSN] article mentions, wasn't even on the bench. I'd have to think he will be out of a Hawks uniform within the next few days.

Again, not much of a shocker, as it was all but impossible to believe that Khabibulin could possibly tolerate sharing playing time with Cristobal Huet, the free agent goalie who arrived from Washington on the very first day of free agency when he signed a 4-year, $22.5 million deal, after stringing along the Capitals for a couple of weeks in order to jack up his market value. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

So what's next for Khabibulin? Everyone in the world keeps speculating that the Kings ought to be doing a deal, but LA GM Dean Lombardi doesn't seem to be anxious to bail Chicago or anybody else out of a bad contract just for the sake of reaching the cap floor. And if Khabibulin really wants to get paid, who says there isn't a deep pocketed KHL owner out there who might be willing to cough up some roubles for a goalie with a Stanley Cup championship on his resume?

Welcome to the NHL FanHouse 2008-09 season preview. While other sites are previewing "30 teams in 30 days," we decided to take advantage of the extra time off before the start of the season to bring you all 30 previews over the next three weeks. We're counting down in reverse order of finish from last season in each conference every weekday from now until October 3. Look for an Eastern Conference preview every morning and a Western Conference preview every afternoon. Click here to read them all.

Who's In: Brian Campbell, D (FA-SJ); Cristobal Huet, G (FA-WSH); Matt Walker, D (FA-StL)

Who's Out: Rene Bourque, F (Trade-CGY); Patrick Lalime, G (FA-BUF); Jason Williams, F (FA-ATL)

What's Changed: For starters, attitude. The Blackhawks were mired in the muck for years. Bad ownership decisions led to low attendance, television blackouts of home games, no significant free-agent signings or trades, and poor public relations. Over the course of a decade, Chicago went from having one of the strongest franchises in the league to one of the worst.

Oh, my, have things changed. Quickly.

Every Thursday, Earl Sleek will conspire with his pen and scanner to bring you another installment of PuckToons. Hopefully you will find these amusing, relevant, well-drawn, or you're a person who is tolerant towards mediocrity.

With NHL training camps opening up in little more than a week, a few teams are still looking to shed salary to get under the $56.7 million cap. A week ago, Dan Wood of the OC Register Duck's Blog posted a list of overcommitted teams, which includes the Anaheim Ducks, the Calgary Flames, Chicago Blackhawks, Philadelphia Flyers, San Jose Sharks and Washington Capitals. "The amounts in question range from a few hundred thousand dollars to as much as $4.5 million."

Now I'm not really an expert on the CBA and the salary cap, which is entering its fourth season in the league (don't turn to your cartoonist for technicalities), but I do know there is a Long-Term Injury allowance that lets teams temporarily outspend the salary cap while a player is unable to dress.

While I fully expect that the teams in question this summer will fix their salary issues through traditional means (trades and expensive demotions), I do wonder what the future has in store for spend-happy general managers. Will they ever get to the point where a budget-dictated surgery becomes a cap-cheating strategy? It's unlikely, I suppose, but if it ever does happen, I hope they'll now cut me in on the cap savings.

What They're Not Saying is a collection of made-up quotations attributed to real people.

As noted earlier today, Scotty Bowman has left his cozy perch atop Mt. Red Wing to become rival Chicago's new Senior Advisor, Hockey Operations. Here's a sampling of reactions to the move from around the League:

"Did it just get hot in here or is it me?" - Denis Savard, Blackhawks Head Coach

"That's a good decision for him if it makes him happy, but just a month and change after it was first reported... why the rush, Scotty?" - Mats Sundin, Unrestricted Free Agent

"I'll miss watching Matlock and catching the early bird special with him, but the kid's gotta do what he's gotta do." - Chris Chelios, Detroit Red Wings

"We didn't want him anyway. Everything here's cool." - Baghdad Bob Cliff Fletcher, Toronto Maple Leafs GM

I'm sure you've heard or seen some responses that I've missed -- share 'em in the comments.

Scotty Bowman has declined and spurned many advances from the likes of the Toronto Maple Leafs and other NHL clubs to be a coach, adviser or mentor for their organizations. Why should Bowman, who already has plenty of Stanley Cup Rings, the most wins by an NHL coach, and lots of money in the bank, need to come out of semi-retirement and leave a perfectly cozy job with the Red Wings?

As rumored last month, the Chicago Blackhawks were the latest team to offer a position to Bowman. Whatever straw the Hawks threw in front of Bowman finally broke the camel's back, because the legendary coach is now joining the Chicago Blackhawks front offices in an advisory role: Senior Adviser, Hockey Operations.


I wonder what the Hawks offered that made Bowman finally change his mind. Was Bowman bored of winning all the time with the Wings? Was his role so small (think Gordie Howe's days as a pencil pusher) that he felt unappreciated?

One obvious factor is that Scotty wants to join his son, Stan, who is an Assistant GM within the hockey operations department of the Hawks. Reverse Nepotism, eh?

The Hawks are already a team on a rapid rise to success, and adding Bowman to the club will only help them make the transition from pretender to contender.

Score another one for Rocky Wirtz!

The NHL, not the Chicago Blackhawks or Wrigley Field, will be responsible for doling out tickets to the Winter Classic II next January. So, if you want good tickets to this massive ice party, set to go on at "holy shrine" Wrigley Field, you better be either ...

a. Rich
b. A season ticket holder of the Chicago Blackhawks
c. A season ticket holder of the Detroit Red Wings
d. A season ticket holder of the Chicago Cubs


As "Cranky Blogger" George James Malik of MLive.com opines, this event is more about the Hawks and Wings than promoting the entire NHL, as we are generally told it is.

I think that "this spectacular thing" is all about Bettman partnering with a former president of the Chicago Cubs to raise the national profile of the Chicago Blackhawks. If it was about "the fans," it would have taken place in a much larger venue, and if it was about both teams, it would probably take place in Ann Arbor, where a 100,000-seat stadium would allow the average fan to actually attend the game.

Cranky blogger or not, Malik's feelings are shared, or going to be shared, by a majority of the ticket-hungry public who will find it nigh-impossible to get a good seat, or a seat at all, to this big event.

Today at Wrigely Field, the NHL and Chicago Blackhawks held a press conference to pump up the upcoming Winter Classic. Smack in the middle of July, it made all kinds of sense (not really). Anyway, we got a glimpse at what the NHL was planning for January. In the picture above, you can see a mock up of the rink that the NHL set up at Wrigley today. As you can probably tell, the sight lines are going to be weird. It might be something akin to watching football in a baseball stadium whose seats don't fold out nicely -- think Shea Stadium.

My point -- there's a lot of open space on the field out there. Hopefully that gets filled in with seats (How cool would that be??) because otherwise people with "front row" seats are going to be sorely dissapointed. Seats on the rooftops though, should still be freaking awesome. Just make sure you're not sitting behind home plate. You might not see a lot.

After the jump, a couple more shots from today's presser.

After going without a captain all of last season, Hawks coach Denis Savard has decided to award a "C" to one of his bright young Turks: Jonathan Toews.

This star-in-the-making is one of the most mature young men in the NHL, and the Hawks didn't give a second thought to giving him an Alternate Captain's "A" last season. After just one year of apprenticeship, he's now been promoted.

"It's a natural fit," Savard said at rookie camp at the Edge in Bensenville. "Personally, when I sit down with the staff and my coaches, I know that I've got my mind made up. I don't care how young you are. He's that type of person that is going to be a great captain for us."

In the past, I haven't been too thrilled with teams putting extra pressure on young kids to be the captain of their franchise. For every Sidney Crosby who thrived under the pressure, there has been a Vincent Lecavalier or Chris Pronger that just couldn't handle the added responsibility.

In Toews' case, he's shown that he isn't your typical young punk, and has that calm, stoic demeanor more reminiscent of a young Steve Yzerman, although not nearly as scowly. He should do just fine.

Apparently, Blackhawks' GM Dale Tallon woke up this morning and swore to himself that he wouldn't go to bed tonight without a salary cap situation on his hands. After inking Cristobal Huet to a $5 million cap hit earlier today, he went ahead and picked up the most sought after defenseman on the market today by inking Brian Campbell. Campbell didn't come cheaply though, as it's going to take an eight-year deal worth a whopping $7.1 million per season to get him into black and red next year.

Campbell's a great pickup for the 'Hawks and he's a great offensive player and point man, but $7.1 million a year for a guy that's a bit of a defensive liability is a real indication of just how wild the market is running today. Plus, Campbell's already 29, so he'll be 37 at the end of this deal. The Blackhawks are getting a great player, but they're getting him at a high cost.

The other thing worth noting is that Chicago is now over the cap after the additions of Huet and Campbell. They're going to have to dump someone soon, and best bets are probably Nikolai Khabibulin. I don't know who's going to want a goalie with Khabibulin's price tag that plays like he has recently, but if Tallon can convince people that Havlat is healthy, he might make a nice consolation prize to whoever loses the Marian Hossa derby.

There are a lot of big names still on the board through the early stages of free agency today. The one position that there's been no shortage of movement at? Goalie. Goalies are changing teams left and right today and the effects of some of the moves are going to be pretty wide-ranging. Let's take a look at some of the moves that have taken place and what they might mean. All of the exhaustive contract details are via TSN.

Jose Theodore to the Capitals- It's a two-year, $9 million deal and Eric's got the details below. Theodore did seem to regain some of his form this past year with the Avalanche, but he melted down in the playoffs against the Red Wings while suffering from a bad case of the flu. He'll probably give the Caps an upgrade over what Olie the Goalie was giving them earlier in the year, but he won't carry them the way Huet did down the stretch last year. And $4.5 million seems like a lot of money for a guy that just might be washed up, doesn't it?

Cristobal Huet to the Blackhawks- With a ton of moneyalready tied up in Nikolai Khabibulin (~$7 million a year), the 'Hawks are now paying Huet $5.635 a year as well. Huet's an upgrade over what the Blackhawks have, for sure, but I'm trying to wrap my mind around paying more than $12 million a year for their top two goalies.

More goalie moves after the jump.