updated 2:45 a.m. ET July 17, 2008

Having signed goaltender Cristobal Huet and building a crowd on defense, the Chicago Blackhawks find themselves in the middle of rumors regarding a potential three-team blockbuster trade.

Reports from Canadian news sources suggest the Ottawa Senators are chasing a deal in which they would acquire Blackhawks goalie Nikolai Khabibulin. The swap also might include the Los Angeles Kings and see as many as a half-dozen players change teams.

According to the Ottawa Sun, the Senators are seeking Khabibulin to bolster their goaltending and would get a young Blackhawks defenseman — Brent Seabrook and Cam Barker are mentioned.

The deal gets bigger in the report, with Kings star center Anze Kopitar going to Chicago and goalie Martin Gerber and defenseman Andrej Meszaros leaving the Senators for the Kings.
Khabibulin would leaving, taking a big contract with him, while Kopitar would arrived to strength the Blackhawks forward corps.

Huet signed a four-year, $22.54 million deal with the Blackhawks after finishing last season with the Washington Capitals. 'Hawks brass see him as a more stable and consistent performer than Khabibulin, who won a Stanley Cup with the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2004 but is notoriously inconsistent. Unless he's on top of his game, Khabibulin is a .500 goaltender.

Still, Khabibulin is a four-time All-Star and could be an upgrade over Gerber, who became the Senators' top goalie last season after a meltdown by Ray Emery.

The Blackhawks secured a top defenseman in free-agent Brian Campbell to head their blue-line corps. The team has the depth to deal Seabrook and/or Barker.

The move also would give the Blackhawks cap relief. They are about $2 million over the salary cap now, and Khabibulin is due $6.75 million next season, the final year of his contract.

The key could be Kopitar. The Kings are in full rebuilding mode, having eschewed pricey free agents this month. They need a big return for Kopitar, and whether Gerber and Meszaros would be enough is unclear.

But the Blackhawks would love to add the talented Kopitar to a maturing group of forward headed by Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews.

Khabibulin, 35, was 23-20-6 last season with two shutouts, a 2.63 goals-against average and a .909 save percentage in 50 games.

Kopitar, 20, led the Kings in scoring with 77 points last season. He has all-star talent and scores at just under a point-a-game level. Letting him play with Kane, Toews and/or Martin Havlat would further the Blackhawks' efforts to build a team capable of challenging the Detroit Red Wings.

Another key to the deal is Meszaros, who is a restricted free agent. At 22, his was a first-round pick in 2004 and was growing as a player for the Senators. The Kings would need to get Meszaros signed to make the deal.

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