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Chicago Blackhawks: What Corey Crawford’s return means for Chicago

By Vincent Parise

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 27: Corey Crawford #50 of the Chicago Blackhawks warms up prior to the first period of a game against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on February 27, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 27: Corey Crawford #50 of the Chicago Blackhawks warms up prior to the first period of a game against the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center on February 27, 2019 in Anaheim, California. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /
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The Chicago Blackhawks have had a very up and down season, and most of it has been without their number one goalie Corey Crawford.

On Wednesday afternoon the Chicago Blackhawks activated goaltender Corey Crawford off of injured reserve. They sent goalie Collin Delia to the Rockford IceHogs in a corresponding move. This will leave Crawford and Cam Ward as the goaltending tandem for the Blackhawks moving forward

Crawford comes in at a time where him being his old self would be huge. He comes back in a time of need. After a long stretch of winning and finding themselves back in the thick of the playoff race, they have lost a few in a row and are now six points behind the Dallas Stars for the final Wild Card spot.

Crawford is going to have to come in here and make an impact for them to get close to that playoff spot once again.

Now what we can expect from Crawford, is that if he is at his best he is an elite goalie and will keep the Blackhawks in each game as long as he is healthy. Before getting injured, he was not having a good year at all. His record going into his first start back on Wednesday was 6-14-2. This is with a 3.28 goals against average and a .902 save percentage.

Now, take this with a grain of salt, because most of those starts for Crawford were immediately after the team fired Joel Quenneville and played very bad in front of him.

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These numbers are very unlike Crawford over the course of his career. He has a 2.42 goals against average and a .918 save percentage in 432 games played with a record of 236-138-47. If Crawford can find something closer to his career numbers then he will be all good and the Blackhawks will definitely benefit.

Patrick Kane is having a career year offensively, Jonathan Toews is right there with him, and Dylan Strome has found outstanding chemistry. This in front of a lackluster defense so Crawford and Ward will need to be huge in order to make the last handful of games interesting. This California road trip that they are currently on is basically the season for the team so they are all going to need to be as good as they’ve ever been or they will be all but out of the race.

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If Crawford has another concussion in a short amount of time here, then his career could really be in jeopardy. This means that the team needs to keep him fresh and healthy going forward. This will heavily impact not only this season but the seasons ahead while their core is still in their prime. Let’s all hope he remains healthy and is able to finish off his career happy and healthy.

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