CristoWall Is Going to Get Paid - FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

One day, you're worth a second-round pick in the 2009 Entry Draft. Two months and change later, you're likely worth upwards of $5 million per year.

Such is life for former Canadiens backup netminder Cristobal Huet, who was stolen acquired by the Washington Capitals at the trade deadline and is now on the verge of perhaps testing his value on the open market as an unrestricted free agent (to be fair, Huet wasn't in the Habs' long-term plans with Carey Price having taken over the number one job, so moving him for a pick made some sense... until they had to start Jaroslav Halak in the playoffs).

How good (and under-rated) was Huet's season? Consider that only one goalie in the entire NHL (Jean-Sebastien Giguere) had both a better GAA and SV% than Huet in 2007-08. And that Huet won the highest percentage of games played of any goalie in the League with more than 43 appearances (and only the two Detroit goalies had a better percentage if you lowered the games played requirement to two). And that he ended the regular season on a 9-0-0 run during which he posted a 1.52 GAA, a .941 save percentage and allowed only seven even strength goals as he snuck the Caps into the playoffs by a single win.

Lest you think 2007-08 was a fluke for Huet, note that his .921 save percentage since the lockout is second only to Niklas Backstrom's .923 (minimum 76 games played, per these guys), he's 11th in GAA and his 13 shutouts in 130 games are the eighth most in the League over that span and give him the third best shutout-per-game ratio of any goalie with at least seven goose eggs in those three seasons.

I could go on (and did elsewhere), but you get the point -- dude's gonna be able to buy wheels and wheels of Reblochon. The only question is, who's going to be signing his paycheck (or will it be his paycheque)?

Huet has said that he "would like to stay in Washington," but his agent, being a douchebag just doing his job, noted that Washington isn't his client's "first choice or second choice, but he felt he was treated well there, he liked his teammates, the coaching staff" and "[a]ll that combined means they will get every consideration for his services." How accomodating. And with Olie Kolzig confirming yesterday what everyone already knew -- that he wouldn't be back in D.C. -- Huet is in a great bargaining position with respect to the Caps.

But the reality is that Huet might need the Caps as much as they need him. Sure, there may be other teams in need of a number one netminder and not a whole lot of quality free agent backstops available, but the Huet sweepstakes might come down to a bidding war between two teams -- Washington and Ottawa, who already has nearly $7 million tied up in two goalies and $40 million in 2008-09 salaries with plenty of roster work to go (what makes the Sens a particularly interesting suitor, besides their obvious need in net, is the unsubstantiated rumor that Huet's Swiss-born wife prefers a more "European-influenced" city... as if players' wives have a say in where their husbands play).

If I was a betting man, I'd put my money on Huet staying put in Washington (how does four years/$20 million sound?) and Ottawa picking up a less expensive option for more of a 50/50 split with Martin Gerber. I hear Olie Kolzig's available...