Cristobal Huet Cristobal Huet ( ; born September 3 , 1975 ) is a French professional ice hockey goaltender currently playing for the Chicago Blackhawks of the National Hockey League ( NHL ) . He developed his goaltending skills in Grenoble with Les Brûleurs de Loups . He has also played with the Los Angeles Kings , Montreal Canadiens , and Washington Capitals . He is the first netminder and second player overall ( after Philippe Bozon ) from France to play in the NHL . Huet won the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks during the 2009 - 10 NHL season . He was the first Frenchman to win the Stanley Cup . Playing career . Early Years . 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 the Ottawa Senators to Montreal . During the lockout Huet played for the Mannheim Eagles 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 . 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 . The Molson Cup is awarded monthly to the best Montreal Canadiens ' player . 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 , Miikka Kiprusoff and Manny Legace . On April 23 , in his first Stanley Cup playoffs start , Huet starred in a 6 – 1 win against the 2nd seed in Eastern Conference — the 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 two overtimes to take the lead 2 – 0 in the series . But in the next four games , Huet and the Canadiens lost by scores of 2 – 1 , 3 – 2 , 2 – 1 and 2 – 1 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 offseason for two years at $ 5 . 75 million total , earning $ 3 . 00 million the first season and $ 2 . 75 million in the second year . On January 13 , 2007 , Huet was announced as one of the three goalies 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 . 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 . Huet had become expendable to Montreal once goaltender Carey Price had arrived . He took over the starting position from Olaf Kölzig , and his exceptional play helped lead Washington to securing a playoff berth , where they lost their opening round series against the Philadelphia Flyers in seven games . Chicago Blackhawks . On July 1 , 2008 , the first day of unrestricted free - agency , he 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 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 much 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 on overtime win . With Khabibulin still recovering from a lower body injury , Joel Quenneville named Huet the team ' s starting goalie 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 . Huet entered the 2009 - 2010 season as the Blackhawks undisputed number one goaltender , a first in his career . Despite a slow start , he picked up his play while backup goalie Antti Niemi excelled behind him as well . Eventually , after months of streaky play , Huet was again replaced by Niemi , who took the starting position going into the playoffs . Huet played twenty minutes in all of the 2010 Stanley Cup Playoffs , with Niemi playing the rest , and the Blackhawks won the Stanley Cup with a playoff record of 16 - 6 . International play . Played for France in :