Have you ever seen $5.625 million disappear into thin air?
That's how the Chicago Blackhawks likely feel this afternoon with the news that overpaid veteran, now-former-backup goaltender Cristobal Huet is preparing to sign a deal to play in Switzerland next season.
From Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune:
Cristobal Huet's time with the Blackhawks appears to be nearing an end.
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."
If the deal goes go through, the Blackhawks will still be forced to pay Huet's hefty salary, but in terms of the salary cap, Huet will be gone. Well, that is, as long as he's playing overseas.
Huet lost his gig last season to Antti Niemi, who also doesn't have a job despite winning a Cup last year. Both goaltenders are victims of the salary cap, and Huet knew that with the way things were in Chicago, he was likely going to be pushed down to the AHL. I'd run off to Switzerland too.