A Decade After Retiring, Stanley Cup Winner signs New Pro Contract

I don't think anyone saw this coming until it was announced. A Stanley Cup-winning goaltender, and four-time NHL All-Star, has decided to come out of retirement after a decade.

Nikolai Khabibulin was serving as the goaltending coach for Torpedo Nizhny Novgorod of the KHL. It was announced today that he's signed a deal until the end of this season to play for the team. Khabibulin turns 51 on Jan. 13 of this year.


Khabibulin won a Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004, playing 23 games for the team in the playoffs and managing 5 shutouts. His NHL career ended in the 2013-14 season after a four-game stint with the Chicago Blackhawks. Torpedo's coach, Igor Larionov, said Khabibulin has been training intensely for three months, and the team needed a third goaltender after an injury to another netminder. We'll see if the Bulin Wall can get some games in.