Chicago Blackhawks: Corey Crawford has no pressure now

After the Chicago Blackhawks traded Robin Lehner, it’s fair to assume that Corey Crawford will have no pressure going forward.

With no true backup goalie for the Chicago Blackhawks, I believe Corey Crawford is untouchable. There is no way that Malcolm Subban will take the starting role from Crawford. I would bet everything on that statement.

The only way Subban sees any time is if Crawford gives up a bunch of goals or if he gets hurt. He’ll most likely start the second of a back-to-back game, that’s it. After trading Robin Lehner, the management has said that Crawford is their guy.

The second any real competition gets close to Crawford, Stan Bowman trades him. Ray Emery, Scott Darling, Antti Raanta. You name him, Bowman got rid of him. I mean come on, Emery lost just ONE game in 2013. Why wasn’t he kept in 2014?

At 35, this is the perfect time to hand the net to another goalie. Crawford has done great things for this team. The best thing he could do right now was to step aside for Lehner.

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Lehner was that guy that could have taken over the duties for the Blackhawks. Crawford has had a winning season since he got hurt in 2017. Right now he’s won just 11 games this season. He’s started in 32.

After Lehner got the team one point out of the playoffs, they switched back to Crawford. It seemed like Jeremy Colliton and Bowman wanted Crawford to be the guy all along. There was never a situation where Crawford was close to losing his job. The staff has kept him safe.

In all fairness, he is one of the best goalies since Ed Belfour to play for the Blackhawks. Crawford could be a potential candidate for the Hockey Hall of Fame too. He just doesn’t have it anymore.

What happens is this, he has a few good games and everyone sings his praises. I love Crawford, but as someone who is looking towards the future, Lehner wasn’t the right guy to go. I’m not sure what it’s going to take to switch that. It’ll be a while before they have another goalie with the talent of Lehner. They don’t come along every season.

I’m worried about the future. If the Blackhawks don’t have a young goalie who can win in the playoffs, they’ll be screwed. Something needs to change in Chicago. I think both Bowman’s are the first ones that need to go.