This red, white and black Bauer Vapor blocker was game worn by Chicago Blackhawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin in 2006-07.  Khabibulin was selected in the ninth round of the 1992 NHL Entry Draft by the Winnipeg Jets. He played for the Jets for two seasons 1994-95 and 1995-96 and moved with them to Phoenix, playing for the Coyotes for three more seasons.

After the 1998–99 season, Nikolai became embroiled in a bitter contract dispute with the Coyotes, and ended up holding out for an entire season. During this year, he played for the Long Beach Ice Dogs of the International Hockey League, earning the league's MVP trophy. After a trade to the Lightning, where he played for four seasons, he moved on to the Blackhawks where he still resides. As of this writing, Nikolai has earned 297 career NHL wins.

This blocker was used by Nikolai in the 2006-07 season.  On October 21, 2006 Khabibulin broke his finger during warm-ups while wearing this blocker and some blood still resides due to that incident.  He played the entire game in a 4-3 loss to the St. Louis Blues.  Our consignor purchased this blocker from Hawks Quarters and had it autographed at the teams season ticketholder party in late December of that same year.  The player name "Habby" is stitched on the side.

The blocker is signed by Khabibulin, Adrian Aucoin, James Wisniewski, Jassen Cullimore, Bryan Smolinski, Denis Arkhipov, Jeff Hamilton, Troy Brouwer, Rene Bourque, Patrick Lalime, Mark Hardy, Brian Boucher, Duncan Keith, Tony Salmelainen, Brent Seabrook, Michael Holmqvist, Denis Savard, Patrick Sharp, Karl Stewart, Martin Havlat, Peter Bondra (500 G), Lasse Kukkonen, Tuomo Ruutu, Radim Vrbata and Ryan Stewart.