Cristobal Huet

Cristobal Huet (; born September 3, 1975) is a French former professional ice hockey goaltender who is a goaltender coach for Lausanne HC of the National League (NL). He previously played for HC Lugano and HC Fribourg-Gottéron and within the Chicago Blackhawks, Los Angeles Kings, Montreal Canadiens, and Washington Capitals organizations in the National Hockey League (NHL). He is the first French netminder and second French-trained player overall (after Philippe Bozon) to play in the NHL. He currently co-hosts hockey TV show, Le Repas d'équipe, with fellow French-born Swiss former player Laurent Meunier on MySports.

Huet won the Stanley Cup with the Chicago Blackhawks in 2010, and became the first Frenchman to win the Stanley Cup as a player. He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2023.

Playing career Amateur As a youth, Huet played in the 1988 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a team from Grenoble.

HC Lugano Huet played for HC Lugano from the 1998–99 season to 2001–02. His career took a significant turn in these years. He won the National League A Championship in his first year, and reached the European Hockey League final four the next year.

Los Angeles Kings (2002–2005) Huet was drafted by the Los Angeles Kings as their seventh-round pick, 214th overall, in the 2001 NHL entry draft. He played for the Kings in the 2002–2003 and 2003–2004 seasons. He was traded to the Montreal Canadiens in a three-team deal that sent Mathieu Garon to Los Angeles and Radek Bonk from Ottawa to Montreal. During the 2004–05 lockout Huet played for the Adler Mannheim in the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. He led the team to the finals, where the Eagles lost in three straight games to Eisbären Berlin.

Montreal Canadiens (2005–2008) During the 2005–06 season, Huet eventually won the starting job in goal for the Canadiens at the expense of José Théodore, who was subsequently traded to Colorado in exchange for goaltender David Aebischer. He also won the Molson Cup in February 2006. He won the Best Defensive Player award from the NHL during the first week of March, ousting goaltenders such as the Ottawa Senators' Ray Emery and the New Jersey Devils' Martin Brodeur, with a 3–0–0 record and a 1.67 GAA. For the second time of the year, he was named NHL Best Defensive Player on April 3 with a 3–0–0 record, a 0.65 GAA and 0.979 SV%, ousting goaltenders Martin Brodeur, Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff and Detroit's Manny Legace.

On April 23, in his first NHL playoff start, Huet starred in a 6–1 win against the 2nd seeded and eventual Stanley Cup champion Carolina Hurricanes. Huet stopped 42 of 43 shots in the contest to put the Canadiens up 1–0 in the seven-game series. Two days later, Huet recorded his first overtime playoff win, when the Canadiens beat the Hurricanes 6–5 in double overtime to take the lead 2–0 in the series. However, Huet and the Canadiens lost the next four games and the series in goaltender duels with rookie Cam Ward, who had taken Martin Gerber's starting spot in the series, and who would later go on to win the Conn Smythe Trophy.

The Canadiens re-signed Huet in the 2006 off-season to a two-year deal at $5.75 million total, earning $3 million the first season and $2.75 million in the second year.

On January 13, 2007, Huet was announced as one of the three goaltenders of the Eastern Conference All-Star Team in the 55th NHL All-Star Game in Dallas. A month later, however, he suffered a left hamstring injury that caused him to miss most of the final two months of the season. In his absence, the Canadiens struggled, and the team missed the postseason.

Washington Capitals (2008) On February 26, 2008, Montreal Canadiens general manager Bob Gainey traded the French netminder to the Washington Capitals for a 2009 second-round draft pick. The Canadiens decided to trade Huet because of highly touted prospect, Carey Price. In Washington, he took over the starting position from Olaf Kölzig, pushing incumbent backup Brent Johnson to the pressbox, and his exceptional play helped lead Washington to secure a playoff berth, where they lost the opening round series against the Philadelphia Flyers in seven games.

Chicago Blackhawks (2008–2010) On July 1, 2008, the first day of unrestricted free-agency, Huet agreed to terms on a new 4-year contract with the Chicago Blackhawks worth a total of $22.4 million or $5.625 million per season.

Following the signing, Blackhawks general manager Dale Tallon announced the team would enter the season with a tandem of Huet and Nikolai Khabibulin. Unable to win the starting job over Khabibulin to start the season, Huet found himself on the bench more often than not. Gradually, he earned back his playing time and both alternated every game for almost 3 months until Khabibulin went down with a groin injury in early February. The tandem, however, earned praise around the NHL. A second Khabibulin injury in early February thrust Huet in the spotlight once again, and he was named the NHL's 3rd star of the week for Feb 15–21, posting a 3–0–0 record and allowing just five goals on 72 shots. In the end however, Khabibulin was named the playoff starter for the Blackhawks, and they defeated the Calgary Flames in the first round as well as the Vancouver Canucks in the second round.

Huet made his next appearance for the Blackhawks during game three of the 2009 Western Conference Finals, where he was called to replace an injured Khabibulin. He made six saves, and allowed the Blackhawks to collect an overtime win. With Khabibulin still recovering from a lower body injury, Joel Quenneville named Huet the team's starting goaltender for the fourth game against Detroit. Huet allowed five goals on 21 shots, and was temporarily replaced by Corey Crawford. During the final game of the series, Huet stopped 44 shots en route to a 2–1 overtime loss.

For the first time in his career, Huet started a season as the undisputed number one goaltender, but as the 2009–10 campaign wore on, Antti Niemi eventually replaced Huet as Chicago's starter going into the playoffs. Huet played only twenty minutes in the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs, which the Blackhawks won with Niemi in net and with an overall playoff record of 16–6. With the Hawks victory, Huet became the first native of France to get his name engraved on the Stanley Cup.

Fribourg-Gotteron (2010–2012) On September 27, 2010, Chicago loaned Huet to HC Fribourg-Gotteron of the Swiss National League A in order to stay within the salary cap. In his first year with Fribourg-Gotteron, Huet played in 41 games but struggled in the second half of the season, accumulating a 2.84 goals against average as the team finished 8th. Fribourg qualified for the playoffs only to be swept by HC Davos. The following season he improved to a goals against average of 1.99 in 39 games, third best in the league that year. The team defeated HC Lugano in the quarterfinals in 6 games but lost to SC Bern in the semifinals in 5 games. Huet's loan and his contract with the Blackhawks expired when the playoffs ended, thus making him a free agent.

Lausanne HC (2012–2018)

Huet signed a 4-year deal with Lausanne HC of the National League B. His first season in Lausanne was a success, as the team won the National League B title and went on to win promotion to the National League by defeating SC Langnau in the qualification round.

Retirement from the French national team In May 2017, Huet played at the 2017 IIHF World Championship, in Paris, representing France. He played his last game at the final round robin game of France, against Slovenia, with a win, and ended with a standing ovation, retiring with France's Team Captain Laurent Meunier. Team France (Les Bleus) did not advance to the medal round, but was not relegated.

Career statistics Regular season and playoffs Regular season Playoffs Season Team League GP W L T OTL MIN GA SO GAA SV% GP W L MIN GA SO GAA SV% 1994–95 Brûleurs de Loups FRA — — — — — — — — — — 7 — — — — — — — 1995–96 Brûleurs de Loups FRA 25 — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — 1996–97 Brûleurs de Loups FRA 28 — — — — — — — — — 11 — — — — — — — 1997–98 Brûleurs de Loups FRA 29 — — — — — — — — — 12 — — — — — — — 1998–99 HC Lugano NDA 21 — — — — 1275 58 1 2.73 — 10 — — 628 18 1 1.72 — 1999–00 HC Lugano NLA 31 — — — — 1886 50 8 1.59 — 13 — — 783 29 0 2.22 — 2000–01 HC Lugano NLA 39 — — — — 2365 77 6 1.95 — 18 — — 1141 39 2 2.05 — 2001–02 HC Lugano NLA 39 — — — — 2313 107 4 2.78 — 1 — — 60 3 0 3.00 — 2002–03 Manchester Monarchs AHL 30 16 8 5 — 1784 68 1 2.29 .922 1 0 1 30 4 0 8.08 .778 2002–03 Los Angeles Kings NHL 12 4 4 1 — 541 21 1 2.33 .913 — — — — — — — — 2003–04 Los Angeles Kings NHL 41 10 16 10 — 2199 89 3 2.43 .907 — — — — — — — — 2004–05 Adler Mannheim DEL 36 — — — — 2001 93 1 2.79 .915 14 — — 850 40 2 2.82 .919 2005–06 Hamilton Bulldogs AHL 4 0 4 — 0 237 15 0 3.79 .862 — — — — — — — — 2005–06 Montreal Canadiens NHL 36 18 11 — 4 2102 77 7 2.20 .929 6 2 4 385 15 0 2.33 .929 2006–07 Montreal Canadiens NHL 42 19 16 — 3 2286 107 2 2.81 .916 — — — — — — — — 2007–08 Montreal Canadiens NHL 39 21 12 — 6 2278 97 2 2.55 .916 — — — — — — — — 2007–08 Washington Capitals NHL 13 11 2 — 0 771 21 2 1.63 .936 7 3 4 451 22 0 2.90 .909 2008–09 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 41 20 15 — 4 2351 99 3 2.53 .909 3 1 2 130 7 0 3.23 .910 2009–10 Chicago Blackhawks NHL 48 26 14 — 4 2731 114 4 2.50 .895 1 0 0 20 0 0 0.00 1.000 2010–11 HC Fribourg–Gottéron NLA 41 12 21 — 1 2461 120 4 2.92 .888 3 0 3 155 11 0 4.24 .810 2011–12 HC Fribourg–Gottéron NLA 39 23 10 — 0 2322 83 6 2.14 .912 11 4 5 694 28 1 2.42 .910 2012–13 Lausanne HC NLB 36 — — — — — — — 2.33 — 13 — — — — — 2.67 — 2013–14 Lausanne HC NLA 45 19 20 — 2 2649 91 1 2.06 .929 7 3 3 407 16 0 2.36 .922 2014–15 Lausanne HC NLA 37 16 13 — 0 2158 67 7 1.86 .931 7 2 4 447 11 0 1.48 .941 2015–16 Lausanne HC NLA 46 17 22 — 2 2768 112 1 2.43 .910 — — — — — — — — 2016–17 Lausanne HC NLA 40 23 15 — 0 2404 99 7 2.47 .919 4 0 4 261 13 0 2.98 .908 2017–18 Lausanne HC NL 21 7 12 — 4 1104 64 1 3.48 .886 — — — — — — — — NDA/NLA/NL totals 399 — — — — 23,705 928 46 2.35 — 74 — — 4576 168 4 2.20 — NHL totals 272 129 90 11 21 15,261 625 24 2.46 .913 17 6 10 987 44 0 2.68 .918

International

Year Team Event GP W L T MIN GA SO GAA SV% 1992 France EJC B 3 1.62 .929 1993 France EJC B 6 2.29 1995 France WJC B 7 2.14 .899 1997 France WC 3 101 12 0 7.13 .793 1998 France OG 2 1 1 0 120 5 0 2.50 .925 1998 France WC 1 5 3 0 36.00 .400 1998 France WC Q 3 2 1 0 180 7 0 2.33 1999 France WC 1 0 1 0 60 6 0 6.00 .714 1999 France WC Q 3 1 1 1 180 10 0 3.33 .897 2000 France WC 4 1 2 1 239 11 0 2.76 .892 2001 France OGQ 3 1 0 2 179 5 0 1.68 .952 2001 France WC D1 4 2 1 1 240 9 1 2.25 .886 2002 France OG 3 0 2 1 179 10 0 3.36 .884 2002 France WC D1 5 4 1 0 299 5 2 1.00 .938 2004 France WC 4 0 3 1 198 17 0 5.19 .851 2005 France OGQ 5 3 1 1 299 5 2 1.00 .957 2008 France WC 5 2 3 — 250 15 0 3.60 .911 2011 France WC 6 1 5 — 282 16 0 3.41 .913 2012 France WC 5 3 2 — 299 18 0 3.61 .882 2013 France OGQ 2 1 1 — 122 5 0 2.44 .909 2013 France WC 5 1 4 — 266 16 0 3.36 .902 2014 France WC 6 2 2 — 369 16 0 2.60 .902 2015 France WC 5 1 3 — 288 10 1 2.09 .923 2016 France WC 5 1 3 — 276 14 0 3.05 .884 2017 France OGQ 3 2 1 — 179 4 0 1.33 .944 2017 France WC 4 1 1 — 249 10 0 2.41 .899 Tier I senior totals 59 — — — 3181 179 1 3.38 — Tier II senior totals 28 16 7 3 1678 50 5 1.79 —

Honours French Elite League Champion with the Brûleurs de loups of Grenoble, 1997/98 Albert Hassler Trophy (Most Valuable Domestic Player in the French Elite League), 1997/98 Jean Ferrand Trophy (Most Valuable Goaltender in the French Elite League), 1996/97 and 1997/98 Swiss National A League Champion with HC Lugano, 1998/99 European Hockey League Final Four with HC Lugano, 1999/00 Jacques Plante Trophy (Best GAA in the Swiss National A League), 1999/00 and 2000/01 Roger Crozier Saving Grace Award (Best Save% in the NHL – National Hockey League), 2005/06 Nominee for Bill Masterton Trophy (Awarded to the player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey.), 2005/2006 NHL Defensive Player of the Week 3–5–06 NHL All Star Team roster – 2007 Nominee for NHL All Star team – 2008 NHL 3rd star for January 2008 NHL 3rd star of the week (Feb 15–21 2009) NHL 1st star of the week (Dec 14–21 2009) NHL 2010 Stanley Cup Champion (Season 2009–2010) Inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2023