Nikolai Khabibulin may have played his last National Hockey League game.
The Chicago Blackhawks' 40-year-old relic hasn't played a meaningful game since mid-November when he suffered a groin injury against the Nashville Predators and had apparently been dealing with a rotator cuff injury in his shoulder as well - and while the groin was coming along, the shoulder never did.
Subsequently, the Russian who went by the nickname "The Bulin Wall", underwent surgery this week to repair the shoulder, and will miss at least four months.
"One of those things where you try to rehab it to avoid surgery," Blackhawks' General Manager Stan Bowman said. "With him being out with the groin, he could work on it the last six weeks or so. It just never got better to the point where it wasn't going to heal without surgery."
Khabibulin could concievably return for the post-season, but chances are that he is done for the season and perhaps for his career.
In his stead, Antti Raanta has been more than serviceable behind Corey Crawford - bordering on spectacular, in fact - with a sterling 11-1-3 record with one shutout and with a save percentage of .911 and goals against average of 2.27.
If this is indeed it for Khabibulin, he will finish his career with a regular season record of 333-334-97 with 46 shutouts and a stat line of .907/2.72, saving his best for the playoffs where he went 39-31 with six shutouts, sporting a .917 save percentage and a 2.40 goals against average, winning a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004.
http://www.sportsinjuryalert.com/2014/01/blackhawks-khabibulin-has-rotator-cuff.html
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