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During the NHL’s big growth phase in the 1990s, the league made a concentrated effort to expand the game of hockey in the South, as evidenced by both expansion teams (Tampa Bay Lightning in 1992-1993, Florida Panthers in 1993-1994, Nashville Predators in 1998-1999, Atlanta Thrashers in 1999-2000) and relocations (Winnipeg Jets to Phoenix Coyotes in 1996-1997, Hartford Whalers to Carolina Hurricanes in 1997-1998). A decade later, the Lightning and Hurricanes hoisted the Stanley Cup in back-to-back NHL seasons (around the 2004-2005 lockout), spurred in large part by the stellar goaltending play of Nikolai Khabibulin and Cam Ward, respectively. Long-time starting goalies who both had up-and-down careers highlighted by their Cup triumphs, there are some strikingly parallels between their careers, which leads to the question:
Who was better – Nikolai Khabibulin or Cam Ward?
The Beginning
Though they came from differing pedigrees, Khabibulin and Ward both quickly established themselves as quality starting NHL goalies.
Born and raised in the former Soviet Union in what is now Russia, Khabibulin originally played professional hockey for both his hometown Avtomobilist Sverdlovsk and later CSKA Moscow and was drafted 204th overall in the ninth round of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by then then-Winnipeg Jets. He would then spend some time touring with the Russian Penguins before coming over to the NHL for the 1994-1995 season, appearing in 26 games and going 8-9-4 with a 3.41 GAA, .908 SV%, and 2 shutouts (equating to a 106 GA%-, which is a relative measure vs. league-wide scoring indexed to 100; lower is better).
As for Ward, he was born in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan, but grew up in the greater Edmonton area. Following a standout junior hockey career with the Red Deer Rebels of the Western Hockey League (WHL), he was selected 25th overall in the first round of the 2002 NHL Entry Draft by the Carolina Hurricanes, though continued to play in the junior ranks until 2004. After spending the 2004-2005 NHL lockout with Carolina’s American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Lowell Lock Monsters, he made his debut with the Hurricanes in 2005-2006 and went 14-8-2 with a 3.68 GAA (119 GA%-) and .882 SV%; despite being ho-hum in a backup role during the regular season, Ward would go on to have a magical postseason run (more on that later).
Career Comparison
Across long NHL careers, Khabibulin and Ward can each be described as somewhat inconsistent, though each was a workhorse in his prime and eventually accumulated over 300 career wins.
With the Jets (and later the Phoenix Coyotes after the team relocated ahead of the 1996-1997 season), Khabibulin developed into a steady presence in net. In fact, for three straight seasons with the team from 1996-1997 to 1998-1999, he appeared in at least 60 games each year and posted 30+ wins each year, highlighted by a 1998-1999 campaign that saw him go 32-23-7 (a career-high in wins) with a career-best 2.13 GAA (84 GA%-), .923 SV%, and 8 shutouts. However, following this standout season, Khabibulin got into a contract dispute with the Coyotes, which resulted in him sitting out an entire NHL season; instead, he played a season with the Long Beach Ice Dogs in the International Hockey League (IHL) and actually took home MVP honors. With the two parties at an impasse, he was traded late in the 2000-2001 season to the Tampa Bay Lightning for Mike Johnson, Paul Mara, Ruslan Zainullin, and a second-round draft pick (later used on Matthew Spiller).
As a member of the Lightning, Khabibulin continued his workhorse ways – though he only suited up for two games at the end of the 2000-2001 season, he played 70 games in his first full season with Tampa Bay and finished with a 24-32-10 record, 2.36 GAA (87 GA%-), .920 SV%, and 7 shutouts to place eighth for the Vezina Trophy as the league’s top goalie. The next year, he finished seventh for the Vezina and earned votes for Hart Trophy as league MVP for the only time in his career on the strength of a 30-22-11 record with a 2.47 GAA (97 GA%-), .911 SV%, and 4 shutouts. Following another strong season that culminated in a Stanley Cup title (more to come there), Khabibulin returned to Russia during the 2004-2005 lockout to play for Ak Bars Kazan (together with Lightning teammates Vincent Lecavalier and Brad Richards); as a free agent upon returning to the NHL, Khabibulin signed with the Chicago Blackhawks to become the league’s highest-paid goalie.
Armed with his big new contract, Khabibulin struggled mightily in his first year with the Blackhawks, going just 17-26-6 with a subpar 3.35 GAA (115 GA%-) and .886 SV%. Nevertheless, he rebounded from that nadir and gradually improved in his time with Chicago, culminating in a 2008-2009 season that saw him go 25-8-7 with a 2.33 GAA (88 GA%-), .919 SV%, and 3 shutouts. In the offseason, Khabibulin signed as a free agent with the Edmonton Oilers, where he received little support and was generally a below average goalie; notably, in 2010-2011, he led the league in losses (10-32-4). Finally, following four seasons in Edmonton, he returned to Chicago in 2013-2014 in a backup role and played in just four games in his final NHL season at 41, though did not officially retire until 2015.
Building on his rookie postseason success, Ward firmly entrenched himself as the Hurricanes’ franchise goalie over the next few seasons. As an encore, he was so-so in 2006-2007 with his first 30-win season before improving to 37-25-5 with a 2.75 GAA (106 GA%-), .904 SV%, and 4 shutouts in 2007-2008. In 2008-2009, he set a career-high in wins with a 39-23-5 record with a career-low 2.44 GAA (92 GA%-), .916 SV%, and a career-best 6 shutouts to finish seventh for the Vezina Trophy. The next year, he was limited to 47 games played due to an injury and finished with a mediocre 18-23-5 record; nevertheless, Ward bounced back in 2010-2011 and was a workhorse in terms of leading the NHL in both games and minutes played – with a 37-26-10 record, 2.56 GAA (89 GA%-), and a career-best .923 SV% with 4 shutouts, he again finished seventh in Vezina Trophy voting.
However, the heavy workload of his first half-dozen NHL seasons eventually caught up to Ward. Following a final 30-win season in 2011-2012 (30-23-13 with a 2.74 GAA and .915 SV% with 5 shutouts), he struggled with injuries and inconsistency; over the next couple of seasons, he played in just 47 games before evolving into a steady starter who made around 50 starts per year. From 2014-2015 to 2017-2018, Ward posted four consecutive seasons with between 20-26 wins, a sub-2.75 GAA, and a SV% between .905 and .910. With Carolina in a bit of a rebuilding mode, he signed as a free agent with the Blackhawks for the 2018-2019 season and went 16-12-4 with a 3.67 GAA (GA%-) and .897 SV% before announcing his intention to retire at age 34; ultimately, Ward signed a one-day contract to retire as a member of the Hurricanes, having set franchise records for wins and shutouts.
All in all, Khabibulin played four additional NHL seasons and nearly 100 more career regular season games than Ward, though their career numbers are mixed. On one hand, Ward won one more career game (334 vs. 333 victories) with a significantly better overall record and more 30-win seasons (5x vs. 4x), as well as a better SV%; on the other hand, Khabibulin recorded more shutouts, had a better GAA and GA%-, and earned more All-Star Game selections (4 to 1). Neither goalie won any major regular season hardware and despite excellent careers overall, neither Khabibulin nor Ward is likely to be a serious candidate for the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Regular Season Statistics
| Nikolai Khabibulin | Player | Cam Ward |
| 18 (1994-2014) | Seasons | 14 (2005-2019) |
| 799 | Games Played | 701 |
| 333-334-97 | W-L-T Record | 334-256-88 |
| 46 | Shutouts | 27 |
| 2.72 | GAA | 2.74 |
| .907 | SV% | .908 |
| 100 | GA%- | 103 |
| 4x | All-Star Games | 1x |
| – | Vezina Trophies | – |
| – | Jennings Trophies | – |
| 1x | Stanley Cups | 1x |
| – | Conn Smythes | 1x |
| – | Other Awards | – |
| – | Hall of Fame Induction | – |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
In their primes with the Lightning and Hurricanes, respectively, Khabibulin and Ward were instrumental in leading their teams to the first-ever Stanley Cup titles in franchise history in back-to-back NHL seasons.
Across seven postseason trips with the Jets/Coyotes, Lightning, and Blackhawks, Khabibulin’s shining moment was guiding Tampa to its first Stanley Cup title in the 2003-2004 season with a seven-game victory in the Finals vs. Jarome Iginla and the Calgary Flames; overall, he went 16-7 in the playoffs with a miniscule 1.71 GAA (86 GA%-), .933 SV%, and a postseason-best 5 shutouts to earn his “Bulin Wall” moniker, becoming the first Russian-born goalie to play in a Stanley Cup Finals.
Though he only appeared in the postseason twice (both times with Carolina), Ward certainly made those trips count. After serving up as a backup for most of the 2005-2006 season and initially in the first round of the playoffs vs. the Montreal Canadiens, he seized the starting role and led the Hurricanes all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals, where they beat Chris Pronger and the Edmonton Oilers in seven games for the first championship in team history; for his part, Ward was a playoff-best 15-8 with a 2.14 GAA (86 GA%-), .920 SV%, and a pair of shutouts to win the Conn Smythe Trophy as playoff MVP, the first rookie goalie to win the Stanley Cup since Patrick Roy in 1986 and the first rookie goalie to win the Conn Smythe since Ron Hextall in 1987. Later on, during the 2008-2009 season, Ward backstopped Carolina to the Eastern Conference Finals before getting swept by Sidney Crosby’s Pittsburgh Penguins.
On the international stage, Khabibulin won a gold medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France with the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) following the fall of the Soviet Union; a decade later, he would win bronze for Russia at the 2002 Games in Salt Lake City. In contrast, Ward never represented Team Canada at the Olympics, but did win gold and silver medals for his country at back-to-back World Championships.
Playoff Statistics
| Nikolai Khabibulin | Player | Cam Ward |
| 72 | Games Played | 41 |
| 39-31 | W-L-T Record | 23-18 |
| 6 | Shutouts | 4 |
| 2.40 | GAA | 2.38 |
| .917 | SV% | .917 |
| 88 | GA%- | 88 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; both Khabibulin and Ward were inconsistent throughout their careers – each had periods of brilliance, but also a number of average or mediocre seasons. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete, though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Nikolai Khabibulin | Player | Cam Ward |
| 1995-1999, 2001-2004, 2006-2009 | Decade of Dominance | 2006-2012, 2014-2018 |
| 600 | Games Played | 593 |
| 273-231-72 | W-L-T Record | 285-218-75 |
| 41 | Shutouts | 27 |
| 2.58 | GAA | 2.63 |
| .911 | SV% | .911 |
| 96 | GA%- | 101 |
Source: Hockey-Reference.com
Across essentially the same amount of games played over their best 10 seasons, Ward has a slightly better record and the pair have the same SV%, but Khabibulin had more shutouts and a better GAA and GA%-, in-line with their overall career comparison.
My Thoughts
In the case of Nikolai Khabibulin vs. Cam Ward, I think the numbers do not quite tell the full story. A quick glance at career win-loss records would make you think that the former was a below-average goalie and the latter was much better. However, in reality, Khabibulin’s numbers are weighed down by his disastrous late-career stint with the Oilers and even so, his peripherals (GAA and GA%-, as well as shutouts) stack up favorably against Ward. To me, Ward actually peaked with his rookie season playoff heroics and was consistently an above-average goalie, but rarely ever an elite netminder; in contrast, even on some moribund teams, Khabibulin was a top-flight choice in net in his prime, just outside the top tier of Hall of Fame options. At the end of the day, in a must-win game in the mid-2000s, if you asked me who I would rather have in net, my answer would be the “Bulin Wall”.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Nikolai Khabibulin
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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