Edmonton Oilers Goalie Nikolai Khabibulin recovering from Groin Injury -NHL Update
Luckily for Edmonton Oilers veteran goalie Nikolai Khabibulin, the lockout ensures that those injured players that suffered during the regular season will continue getting a paycheck, which has certainly helped him out over the course of the past few months
as he recovers from his groin injury.
Khabibulin could have went out during the regular season, but kept playing with the Edmonton Oilers till their final matchup, since the Oilers failed to get into the postseason, and went ahead with the much needed surgery when offseason time came.
"It started bugging me sometime after Christmas and it never really went away, so I did the surgery after the season," said Khabibulin on Monday following an on-ice workout, according to Edmontonsun.com.
"I've been back basically in Edmonton since training camp was supposed to start, trying to work on things and trying to get better. It's really only been a week or two since I've been taking shots. It was good enough to skate with the trainers."
Obviously, injuries are never anything to look forward to and the recovery process is even harsher since the player cannot go back to playing like his old self until being fully cleared by the medical staff.
At the age of 39, Khabibulin is still going strong, but even he knows that there are not many years left in him in terms of playing and if the lockout results in an entire season being locked out, it could force him to call it quits.
Nikolai Khabibulin was drafted as the 204th overall back in round-nine of the 1992 National Hockey League (NHL) Entry Draft by the Winnipeg Jets and has playing experience with a number of teams. He spent his first two with the original Winnipeg
Jets, following the next three with Phoenix Coyotes, a four-season long run with Tampa Bay Lightning, the next four with Chicago Blackhawks and his latest three in Edmonton, with the Oilers.
The Sverdlovsk, Russia, native was locked on to a four-year, $15 million deal prior to the 2009-2010 regular season with the Edmonton Oilers and has one year remaining on it, giving him an annual salary of $3.75 million.
Tags: