Report: Switzerland may neutralize Blackhawks' Huet headache

Yahoo! Sports

Mon Aug 23 11:52am EDT

Report: Switzerland may neutralize Blackhawks' Huet headache

Cristobal Huet's (notes) $5.625 million cap hit was going to disappear for the Chicago Blackhawks before next season; it was just a matter of where the deposed starting goaltender would end up.

Spector passes along a report from a Swiss news site called 20 Minutes Online that states Huet will be loaned from the Blackhawks to Fribourg-Gotteron, which plays in the Swiss Nationalliga A. The Swiss site says it'll be a 1-year arrangement; Huet has two years left on his Blackhawks deal.

Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune reports that the Huet loan isn't done yet, according to Huet's agent. Operative word, we imagine, being "yet." From Chicago Breaking Sports News:

The veteran goaltender is in discussions with Fribourg-Gotteron of the Swiss League, but "nothing is 100 percent yet," according to Huet's agent Stephen Bartlett. "We've had discussions with (Gotteron), but nothing is finalized and there are a lot of hoops to go through and approvals that have to happen here, so at this point it's preliminary to say anything is done."

Bartlett lamented about Huet's plight this summer to ESPN Chicago earlier this month and assumed Europe would be the best option:

Huet's hometown is St. Martin D'heres, France, and Bartlett said he would assume Huet would rather play in Europe than in the minors, if those were the only options.
"I can't speak for Cristobal, but I would speculate Europe would be more appealing, because both he and his wife are Europeans," Bartlett said. "They have family there, and what not.
"If the alternatives are the AHL or playing back in Switzerland, where he has some history, I would imagine he would prefer Europe."

Huet played in Switzerland from 1998-2002 before being drafted by the Los Angeles Kings.

So it appears it won't be the indignity of AHL exile for Huet, despite the inherent awesomeness of the Rockford Ice Hogs sweater.

Interesting note on Huet's possible destination in the Swiss League: One of Fribourg-Gotteron's goalies last season was former Pittsburgh Penguins keeper Sebastien Caron (notes), who signed with the KHL last season. Wrap your brain around Huet going from prized free agent in 2008 to a replacement for Sebastien Caron in 2010.