Khabibulin To Start Ninth Time In Sixteen Games. Decision Time Is Now.

With Nikolai Khabibulin making his ninth start this year, it's well known that his place in the seemingly never ending "battle" between the pipes with Cristobal Huet is slightly higher than his French counterpart.

He is leading Huet in every key category of goaltending from GAA to save percentage and he even is two minutes up on Huet in PIM. I know Huet has played two less games so far this season, but is that really a bad thing?

We are 16 games into the season the Blackhawks are 7-4-5 thus far. They are going into this game with the third highest Goals for Avg. in the NHL. If I'm Joel Quennevile, at this point, I could not help but look at both of my goaltenders and think that Khabibulin is my guy.  

That being said, the club just went out and did what majority of fans were asking for and tried to replace Khabibulin with Huet in the off season by signing him a multi-year deal. Knowing all of these things, what is the right thing to do for the young, high-flying, high scoring Chicago Blackhawks?

In my humble opinion, this upcoming road trip could very well be the right time to buckle down as a coach and make your decision.  

While Huet has been greatly invested in, Khabibulin has clearly been the guy who gives the team the best chance to win.  

Again going back, the team has the third highest Goals For Avg. in the NHL.

Don't you think that would mean put the guy with the better GAA (even in more games) in the cage and your chances to win percentage wise are increased?  

I sure think so, unless you are planning on having a glorified goalie tryout until the points sacrificed on this over analysis of current goal-tending prowess have your very skilled, young, passionate team sitting on the outside looking in of the highly competitive Western Conference Playoff Picture.  

You read it here, "The 'Bulin Wall" must stand again, alone!