Chicago Blackhawks: Corey Crawford’s role with the team
The Chicago Blackhawks have two really good goaltenders on their roster and that makes things interesting as far as evaluating the situation.
The Chicago Blackhawks are in a peculiar situation when it comes to their goaltending. They have Corey Crawford, who is one of the greatest and most accomplished goaltenders in Blackhawks history. He is a two time Stanley Cup Champion who has done a whole lot of winning throughout his career.
Over the last few seasons, however, he has dealt with concussion issues that have caused him to miss lots of time. At 34 years old, he has one year left on his deal and there is no certainty to how often he will be available. You’d like to think he is going to be healthy all year long, but you just can’t bank on it. It was looking like it was going to be Corey Crawford and Collin Delia as the duo headed into the season, until the Blackhawks added Robin Lehner to the mix via free agency.
Lehner is a reigning Vezina Trophy finalist for the best goaltender in the National Hockey League. Lehner had a record of 25-13-5 with six shutouts, a .930 save percentage, and a 2.13 goals-against average. It was a dominant year for Lehner. The Blackhawks just need to figure out if he was a product of Barry Trotz’s system for the New York Islanders, or if he is capable of being that good moving forward. His advanced numbers support his dominance as well, as his even-strength save percentage was .934 and his short-handed save percentage was .888.
Crawford was 14-18-5 with a .908 save percentage and a 2.93 goals-against average. Goaltending was down across the league last year, but it is hard to just name Crawford the undisputed starter when you compare them. Crawford was better at even strength with a .913 save percentage but his short-handed save percentage wasn’t great with it being .880. That shorthanded save percentage might be misleading as the Blackhawks penalty kill was abysmal so hopefully, that can be corrected this year.
Crawford might be given the respect he deserves as the opening night starter if he has a decent preseason and of course is healthy, but Lehner is going to get a lot of playing time. It shouldn’t surprise anyone if they split the starts really close to 50/50. There might even come a point where head coach Jeremy Colliton rides whoever he considers the hot hand. It isn’t as cut and dry as it has been in the past before Crawford’s injuries.
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They are both on contracts that have one year remaining on them, so the situation is going to need to sort itself out. Crawford could be playing for a chance to stay in the league as Lehner is going to be looking for some term and top dollar at 28 years old. The hope is that this fact causes them both to play well and get this team back into the postseason.