Corey Crawford is back. He played his first game in 2 months with a win on Wednesday night over the Anaheim "Not-so-Mighty" Ducks.
He played well enough for the win, but self-admittedly, felt like he made some mistakes and there is room for improvement.
The "Crow" situation is a tough one. I really, really hope for Corey to human, he stays healthy and doesn't have any more issues for the rest of his career. I do remain cautious though moving forward however and the Hawks must be evaluating all options from a business perspective moving forward.
Crawford is signed for 1 more year after this at an annual average value of $6M. The actual dollars owed is slightly less at $5M for the 2019-20 season.
So, what do the Hawks do moving forward?
With Crawford's recent injury issues (he's played 52 games in the last 2 years) and the fact that he's 34-years old and frankly there is no way, the Hawks will be able to move him. Also, let's pile on the fact that, when healthy this year, he hasn't exactly been elite:
7-14-2
1 SO
3.27 GAA
.902 SV%
Let's take a deeper dive; as you can see below, of his 24 starts this year, only 8 have been qualified as a quality start (definition: starts with SV% > average SV% for the year or at least 88.5% on nights with 20 or fewer shots // source: Rob Volman in the Hockey Abstract). This puts him at 33% for quality starts when the league average is 53%.
Now, this isn't a "pick on Corey" blog, I just want to manage expectations that Corey might not be the saviour to launch this team into the playoffs.
Also, all of the stats above aren't all on Corey. This Blackhawks team has been BAD defensively and on most nights for any Hawks goalie, it's pure survivor mode.
I will have more on the future of the Blackhawks goaltending as the season and summer goes on.
Let's pause for a second to look at the standings:
As you can see, Arizona, Colorado and Minnesota have heated up. Not a good sign for the Hawks. I will continue to post the scoreboard watch with the playoffs nearing but as it stands today, the Hawks continue to climb that steep mountain.
They play LA (Saturday) and San Jose (Sunday) so let's hope this weekend is more successful than the last.
In injury news, it looks like Chicago could be without Drake Caggiula thanks to this bonehead hit by Rackard Rackell who I suspect will get a couple of games for that. I have not heard an update on a hearing.
(Courtesy of Sportsnet)
I would suspect someone could be on there way out West though if Caggiula is out indefinitely with a concussion.
You may see Brandon Saad jump up to that top line or someone like Brendan Perlini get a bigger opportunity this weekend.
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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