The Chicago Blackhawks Goaltender Situation

With goaltender Corey Crawford on the last year of his expiring contract the hawks have a big decision to make whether they want to bring him back for a max of two seasons or not. Crawford who is now 35 years of age is soon nearing the end of his career. With his concussion problems it could be a risk for the hawks to bring Crawford back for another season. The hawks only have a couple of other goaltending options which includes Subban,Delia,Lankinen and Askarov.

The stats

This season Crawford put up a 2.77 GAA and .917 sv% while rotating the net with former hawks goalie Robin Lehner. Crawford put up 16 wins and 23 losses in his 40 games played. But with the departure of Robin Lehner to the Vegas Golden Knights. Crawford got all of the playing time before the NHL had to put the season on pause due to Covid-19. Crawford played about 10 straight games after Lehner was traded and won six of those games. Despite the hawks terrible defense Crawford was a brick wall once lehner left, only giving up more than two goals in two of the last 10 games that he played. 

In the system 

Besides Corey Crawford the hawks don’t have many other goaltending options. Malcolm Subban who was acquired from Vegas in the trade that sent Lehner to the golden knights didn’t play a single game for the hawks, he only played about two minutes due to Crawford getting checked for an injury. Subban’s stats for the Golden Knights weren’t very good, playing 21 total games with nine wins, a 3.17 GAA and .890 SV%. It is pretty unlikely for the hawks to resign Subban as his contract is also expiring after this season. Another option for the hawks is Collin Delia who played for the Hawks AHL affiliate Rockford Icehogs for the whole season. Delia played with the Blackhawks during the 2019-19 season while Chicago had their goaltending injuries. During that time he started 14 games winning six of those with a 3.61 GAA and .908 SV%. This season when he played for the Icehogs in the AHL he played 32 games winning 16 of those with a 2.66 GAA and .912 SV%. When Delia made his short stint with the hawks he played pretty solid despite his lack of NHL experience and again with the hawks pretty bad defense. It is likely that the hawks will let Subban walk and have Delia as the backup with Crawford starting if the hawks decide to bring him back for another season. The last goalie the hawks have in their system is Kevin Lankinen who was nominated to be an AHL all star this year. This season with the Icehogs Lankinen posted a 3.03 GAA and .909 Sv% winning eight of his 21 games played. Back in 2019 Lankinen led team Finland to a gold medal at the IIHF World Championship. He was outstanding posting a 7-1-0 record with a .942 sv% and a 1.50 GAA. He had a 32 save shutout against team Russia which consisted of Ovechkin, Malkin and Kucherov. He also had 42 saves on 44 shots in the gold medal game against Team Canada.

Yaroslav Askarov

In this year's NHL draft goaltender Yaroslav Askarov has been projected as possibly being a top 10 pick but it is more likely for him to fall later in the first round as the best goalie in this year's draft. In the 19-20 season Askarov started in 18 games with SKA- Neva St. Petersburg in the VHL, he put up a 2.45 GAA and .920 sv% and won 12 of his 18 games with the team. Askarov also participated in the Hlinka Gretzky cup and won the gold medal and put up an outstanding stat line of 1.25 GAA and .960 sv% in four games. Depending on what happens during the playoffs will depend on where the hawks pick, but if Askarov does fall to the hawks it might be a good decision to pick up the Russian netminder for the future. Chicago doesn’t have many other prospects for when Crawford leaves so Askarov might be a must pick for the hawks.

Decisions 

Stan Bowman and the Hawks management will have some big decisions to make during this upcoming offseason. Option 1 could be to re-sign Crawford to a one or two year contract extension and have either Collin Delia or Malcolm Subban as the backup for another year or two. Even if the Hawks do resign Crawford they could still pick up Askarov in this year’s draft for the future and let him develop more rather than having him possibly come in and play in his first year which is highly unlikely. Option two if the Hawks decide not to re-sign Crawford, they could always try to pick up a goalie in free agency despite their cap crunch that they are in while having to re-sign other pending free agents like Dylan Strome and Dominik Kubalik. A few notable free agent goalies this offseason include: Robin Lehner, Braden Holtby, Jacob Markstrom, Thomas Greiss, Cam Talbot, Mike Smith and Jaroslav Halak. Although it is highly unlikely for the hawks to pick up one of these goaltenders, it is still notable to keep them in mind if the hawks have enough available cap room. Crawford still seems like he has a few more years left considering his play before the pause of the NHL season, so it is more likely for the hawks to bring him back for a max of 2 years and in the meantime try and pick up a goalie prospect in the next couple drafts. 

Wrapping it up

There is no doubt that there will be some difficult decisions coming up for the Blackhawks management this offseason but, they do have some options in Askarov and possibly even in free agency if it comes down to it. There is also still a possibility for the hawks to get the first overall pick in this year's draft if they get eliminated by the Edmonton Oilers during the play-ins. A healthy Crawford has shown to still be at an elite level of play while still being towards the end of his career so it will be very interesting to see how things will play out during this upcoming offseason.

By Grant Blair