Hey Z3, I'm trying to agree with you, especially because I try to objectively look at the game/players as well. This might be a more subjective matter.

I don't think struggles are easy to guage. To say Crow has struggled more than Fleury. I'm not sure. Concussions, multiple for both. You have to look at the severity and length, but the players definitely know more about that than we do. Quick and Price are hurt every year, it seems, and puts their teams in bad situations a lot. They tend to be why their teams are good, they hide the flaws, but when it comes to the big test, only Quick and Crow shine above every other goalie, in my book. Fleury can be third. For Crow it went beyond concussions, he had a gaping hole on glove side, and shakey playoff starts. He outgrew those, and thinks the game more and is better prepared. I don't think that is enough to say he has struggled more, though.

I have a hard time sympathizing with Crow because he's a self-inflicted injury kind of guy. It took him some time to grow up, stop drinking, stop partying, stop being in bad situations because he has a kid and wife/gf (I'm not sure.) I feel like he knows what he can lose.

I think he's the best and Quick is right behind. Rinne, Rask, Bob, Lunq-head, Holtby, Price ... you can see the effects they have on their team's chances of winning. Rask and Holtby have won, but they definitely had their trials to get there. All goalies get injured, and they seem to have their tough playoff games where they can't settle in or settle down. That list of 6 plus others that didn't fall off of the top of my head I don't think are overrated, they are great regular season preformers, but the big stage changes everything.
- I Am The Breadman

Crawford is the best goalie right now. The only goalie that may be doing as well is varlamov. I think the hawks resign him after next season. They won't win anything without him.

DK sent that at me for 2 reasons that I can guess.
1. I said send Johnson down, so he said send Fortin down as a way of saying Johnson is bring as much to that line as Fortin, they both are playing well.
2. He knows I like Fortin and I hit a nerve with him because he likes LJ. It was retaliatory.
I think he was leaning more towards 2.
- I Am The Breadman

Not trying to be a Richard...but what does this have to do with my post about debrincat...

Crawford is the best goalie right now. The only goalie that may be doing as well is varlamov. I think the hawks resign him after next season. They won't win anything without him.
- ToewsdNKanefusd

S.V. is playing out of his gourd right now. Probably didn't take too well to the Grubauer trade and signing.

I'm happy if Crow signs at a discount, they have goalie prospects up the wazoo. Maybe keep him until we know what we have.

Not trying to be a Richard...but what does this have to do with my post about debrincat...
- ToewsdNKanefusd

Dammit to hell. I quoted the wrong thing. Sn1362, that Fortin thing was meant for you.

Hahaha, I never would have caught that.

Dammit to hell. I quoted the wrong thing. Sn1362, that Fortin thing was meant for you.
- I Am The Breadman

- ToewsdNKanefusd

Hahaha, I'm up there with geezers when it comes to tech-savvyness. Oh boy, going to be a long day haha .......

Disagree with you that other goalies have struggled more than Crow. 2012, LA Series, St, Louis Series and others - he has been outplayed at key times a number of times - and then there is the Darling year. I try to be objective which can be seen from the fact that I think he is the best goalie in the NHL right now. Certainly nobody is playing better. Hope he stays at the very top of his game.
- Z3Hawk

not in this NHL universe...rinne, price, fluery, etc all have had worst periods than craw...beside none of them other than fluery have one a damn thing and most likely never will...

yeah the darling year..he had a tough few games vs the preds and then went on to win the cup..with shutting down the bolts 3 str...allowing 2 goals

man ya cherry pick a couple of "bad" games and build a false narrative...

rinne has had his problems, price has certainly has his problems..

not in this NHL universe...rinne, price, fluery, etc all have had worst periods than craw...beside none of them other than fluery have one a damn thing and most likely never will...

yeah the darling year..he had a tough few games vs the preds and then went on to win the cup..with shutting down the bolts 3 str...allowing 2 goals

man ya cherry pick a couple of "bad" games and build a false narrative...

rinne has had his problems, price has certainly has his problems..
- bogiedoc

Also, he was the only reason we finished first 2 years ago, and the only reason we were in the playoff picture until Dec last year. He has been an absolute monster since 2014.

Be patient with Johnson. Kid has played 4 NHL games. He needs the game to slow down for him a bit. He's smart. Tough.

I really want to see a line of Kampf,Kruger and Johnson. Given a few games together they could become a vg shutodwn line.
- Elbows15

Yep exactly, the only reason he went down was to clear a spot for Crawford. Once Forsberg cleared and went down he was brought back up.

Worth giving him a longer look.

Crawford is the best goalie right now. The only goalie that may be doing as well is varlamov. I think the hawks resign him after next season. They won't win anything without him.
- ToewsdNKanefusd

I’d throw Gibson in ANA in the discussion as well. ANA could be a 1 or 2 win team this season without Gibson, who’s been outstanding. His performance against the Hawks is reflective of how good he is.

Hope Crawford starts both games this weekend probably not likely though

Hope Crawford starts both games this weekend probably not likely though
- HamiltonHawk

Q tends to play the hot hand. He didn't play Crow in the TB game because Crow was in net the night before. Crow wanted to play, and Q saw that as a good sign. Not that Ward played poorly that game, he was huge in that second period, and it did give Crow a break. Maybe Q does the same thing again, I don't know. It was a lesson well received by the team so far to play better. My thinking is Crow needs a lot of tests to help better guage where he is at physically and mentally, but so far he looks great in both.
Hopefully he stonewalls the Blue balls and gets the nod to play the "Oileys"- Chance the Rapper.

Wonder if the early goings of him not venturing from the crease this season has to do with not wanting to get bowled over or nudged by the opponent and aggravating his injury.
- AEL_Fox

I haven't noticed that he is avoiding leaving the crease in his 4 games, just that when he does get behind his net he seems more poised and is making better decisions and passing better than was his norm.

I told you Darth that Fortin was my pick to click! He was the only player that has the speed to play in the NHL.
- Sn1362

What - in Rockford? That's not true. Fortin is the fastest of the prospects, but there are other guys in Rockford where speed is not a hindrance for them. Louis is probably the fastest guy on Rockford although he's a long shot at best. Sikura and Highmore are not speed demons but plenty fast to play in the NHL. And there are other guys too.

DK sent that at me for 2 reasons that I can guess.
1. I said send Johnson down, so he said send Fortin down as a way of saying Johnson is bring as much to that line as Fortin, they both are playing well.
2. He knows I like Fortin and I hit a nerve with him because he likes LJ. It was retaliatory.
I think he was leaning more towards 2.
- I Am The Breadman

You like Fortin?

Honestly, both Johnson and Fortin deserve to be on the roster, so does Kampf. Kunitz should sit and Martinsen find his way back to Rockford.

I wasn’t a fan of Fortin, but early on he’s proving me wrong.

You like Fortin?

Honestly, both Johnson and Fortin deserve to be on the roster, so does Kampf. Kunitz should sit and Martinsen find his way back to Rockford.

I wasn’t a fan of Fortin, but early on he’s proving me wrong.
- DarthKane

Trying to fall off the "ok" scale I see. Hahaha. Smartallic.
My problem is I'm looking at Johnson like Q, I know o zone penalties are driving him to rip out what is left of his hair. I'm not looking past that, it sums him up and that isn't fair. I'll go easy on him and look at more to what he brings. The guy is fast and works hard. I like that about him.
Agree on Kunitz and Kampf. Martinsen I can go either way on.

Trying to fall off the "ok" scale I see. Hahaha. Smartallic.
My problem is I'm looking at Johnson like Q, I know o zone penalties are driving him to rip out what is left of his hair. I'm not looking past that, it sums him up and that isn't fair. I'll go easy on him and look at more to what he brings. The guy is fast and works hard. I like that about him.
Agree on Kunitz and Kampf. Martinsen I can go either way on.
- I Am The Breadman

Fortin and Johnson are far from finished products, neither is guaranteed anything yet.

I’m still not sold on Hayden either. Like others I’d likes to see a Kruger, Kampf, Johnson 4th line, I’m more sure where that leaves Hayden.

Fortin and Johnson are far from finished products, neither is guaranteed anything yet.

I’m still not sold on Hayden either. Like others I’d likes to see a Kruger, Kampf, Johnson 4th line, I’m more sure where that leaves Hayden.
- DarthKane

I like that line proposal, but my problem is you have 3 centers on 1 line. Center depth is a problem. I like Krugs on the fourth line. Kampf and Johnson can be on line 3 or 4. But that entails Schmaltz is the 2nd line center and Arty the 3rd line center, which isnt or even might not be the case. I like having more than one center on any given line. But 3 on one line isn't good. I'm not denying that can be a great shut down line, it can, they could piss off a lot of people, but I like centers spread out.
Hayden is a physical 4th liner to me, likeable when limited and hitting.

I argued all summer in favor of 19 having a big bounceback year. Well here we are 10 games in and Toews is doing just fine. Now let's hope I am also right about Saad breaking his slump.

I like that line proposal, but my problem is you have 3 centers on 1 line. Center depth is a problem. I like Krugs on the fourth line. Kampf and Johnson can be on line 3 or 4. But that entails Schmaltz is the 2nd line center and Arty the 3rd line center, which isnt or even might not be the case. I like having more than one center on any given line. But 3 on one line isn't good. I'm not denying that can be a great shut down line, it can, they could piss off a lot of people, but I like centers spread out.
Hayden is a physical 4th liner to me, likeable when limited and hitting.
- I Am The Breadman

How can center depth be an issue when you can have 3 on one line? Both Johnson and Kampf have played wing quite a bit in their careers. I like Kruger much better as a center than a wing but the other two have spent enough time at wing to be dece at it.

Also give Q tons of FO options which would make all the peeps obsessed about FOs less miserable

I argued all summer in favor of 19 having a big bounceback year. Well here we are 10 games in and Toews is doing just fine. Now let's hope I am also right about Saad breaking his slump.
- Savoy

Trying to fall off the "ok" scale I see. Hahaha. Smartallic.
My problem is I'm looking at Johnson like Q, I know o zone penalties are driving him to rip out what is left of his hair. I'm not looking past that, it sums him up and that isn't fair. I'll go easy on him and look at more to what he brings. The guy is fast and works hard. I like that about him.
Agree on Kunitz and Kampf. Martinsen I can go either way on.
- I Am The Breadman

DK only likes crappy players like Rusty, Frolik and Regin.

- Elbows15

I like Johnsons effort he's always skating, i thing the interference penalty last night was a nice flop by the king, if he can stop with the penalties i think he'll settle in nicely.
- BetweenTheDots

I like Johnson's game a lot. He has a nice element of edginess and think he could be a nice spark plug for the Hawks in a lower line role.

How can center depth be an issue when you can have 3 on one line? Both Johnson and Kampf have played wing quite a bit in their careers. I like Kruger much better as a center than a wing but the other two have spent enough time at wing to be dece at it.

Also give Q tons of FO options which would make all the peeps obsessed about FOs less miserable
- Elbows15

I meant to spread it out to alleviate lines that only have 1 center. Share the wealth. Krugs is better at center. I get what you are saying as the other 2 play wings, but Kampf has good faceoff numbers.