More than 20 years ago, the Minnesota Wild took a chance by drafting a goaltender that was a back-up on a third-division Russian league team. Now, after 14 NHL seasons and 114 career wins, that goaltender is hanging up the skates. Anton Khudobin was the 206th pick in the 2004 NHL Draft and parlayed that into a 260-game career with six different organizations. After splitting time with Krasnoyarsk Sokol in the Russian VHL and Novosibirsk in the KHL last season, “Dhobby” has officially retired.
Khudobin was playing with Mettallurg Magnitogorsk in the in what is now the VHL while also suiting up for Russian junior teams. A strong performance in the U20 World Championships helped him get on the Wild’s radar and they drafted him in the 7th round later that summer. Khudobin came over to North America the next season and posted a 23-13-3 record for the Saskatoon Blades in the WHL while also posting a 2.80 GAA and .920 SV% in 10 playoff games.
He returned to Russia the following season before finally signing his entry-level deal with Minnesota in 2007. Splitting time between the Houston Aeros in the AHL and the Texas Wildcatters in the ECHL, the slightly undersized goaltender earned All-Rookie honors and was named the ECHL goaltender of the year.
Unfortunately for Khudobin, he was in an organization that was fairly deep in goaltending. He would finally make his NHL debut at the age of 23 in 2009-10, appearing in two games and allowing just one goal on 48 shots against. The next season he was in four games and stopped 81 of 86 shots. Not too shabby for a rookie netminder. Technically, with his six games played, Khudobin is the franchise leader in Goals Against Average (1.39) and Save Percentage (.955).
There was a moment early in the 2010-11 season where it looked like he might get a bigger role as Niklas Backstrom’s back-up when Josh Harding went down with a substantial knee injury. However, the Wild elected to bring in a veteran, signing Jose Theodore to a one-year contract. By the trade deadline, Khudobin would be on the move.
On the last day of February in 2011, the Wild sent Khudobin to the Boston Bruins for Jeff Penner and the rights to Mikko Lehtonen. Khudobin would get a Stanley Cup ring for serving on the Bruins Black Aces squad during the playoffs (but not his name on the Cup) while Minnesota received Penner, who never suited up for them, and the rights to Lehtonen, who also never played a game for them. In hindsight, probably not a great move.
After his stint in Boston, Khudobin would bounce around the league as the prototypical journeyman goaltender. He had some solid years in Carolina, but it was during the COVID bubble that he came out of seemingly nowhere to lead the Dallas Stars to the Stanley Cup Final. With Ben Bishop hurt, the now 30-year-old netminder appeared in 25 games and posted a .917 GAA and 2.69 SV% as the Stars fell a little short against the Tampa Bay Lightning, losing in six games.
That earned him a three-year, $10 million deal to stay with the Stars. When Jake Oettinger emerged as the go-to in Dallas, Khudobin was on the move once again as he was traded to Chicago for Max Domi and Dylan Wells in March of 2023. Chicago was his last stop in the NHL as he appeared in one game, a 6-1 loss to the Washington Capitals. He played one season in the KHL and VHL before finally officially retiring.
Could things have gone differently for him had the Wild trusted him with the back-up role when Harding was injured? Backstrom was at the peak of his career at that point, so it was unlikely that he would lose the starter role, but Harding, who was seen as the future, only played another three NHL seasons before complications from his multiple sclerosis brought an abrupt end to his career in 2015. Perhaps, if Khudobin had stayed with the Wild, he would have taken over that role at some point and provided the team with an excellent 1a and 1b tandem for a few years.
There is also the fact that the trade netted Minnesota practically nothing in return. Penner had a decent season for Houston before concussions forced him to step away from the game. The idea of Lehtonen was solid, as the former third-round pick had put up 23 goals at the AHL level the season before Minnesota traded for him. Unfortunately, they were never able to convince him to sign with them leading to this being considered one of the worst trades in franchise history.
Khudobin apparently never held a grudge against them, and surely didn’t take it out against them on the ice as he posted a 2-4 record against them in his career and his 4.00 GAA versus the Wild is his highest against any team.