Corey Crawford talks about his future and the 2021 Chicago Blackhawks

Corey Crawford was asked about the future of himself and the Chicago Blackhawks today. Here’s what he had to say.

One of the biggest questions surrounding the 2020-21 Chicago Blackhawks is their goaltending situation. Will Corey Crawford be back? Will they look to bring up Collin Delia? Will they go and look to bring a free agent goalie to Chicago?

Corey Crawford has a different outlook on this. Crawford was asked about staying in Chicago, where he said he is leaning towards staying in Chicago if given the chance. Taking a hometown discount is something that Crawford isn’t 100% on though, that could be what sends him packing.

Here’s his entire quote from his interview today when talking about his contract:

"“That’s hard to say right now. I don’t know where our cap is … but definitely, I’m leaning towards staying in Chicago. And I want to play a ton. I’m way more valuable playing consistently.”"

Besides almost dodging the hometown discount, my assumption is, he’s not taking a job in Chicago to be the backup goalie or even the 50/50 starter. He wants to play how he used to play when he was a full-time starter. I just don’t see that being a winning formula at this stage of his career.

This team still does have talent though and the core guys want to add one more Stanley Cup to their resumè in Chicago. It would be huge if they could win it with Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews, as they already have the most Stanley Cup’s in team history, alongside that solid core group.

Crawford has two, he is looking for his third with Chicago if he re-signs.

"“We still have a lot of great pieces on this team. To win another Stanley Cup in Chicago would be unbelievable. That’s the No. 1 goal, to win one more championship.”"

The motivation from Crawford is huge and exciting to see, but can he perform at that high level still? He played the majority of the playoffs well, keeping Chicago in the majority of the games with his great play. Still, he will be one year older in 2020-21 and you can see his play has changed on the ice for the worst since 2017.

Does Corey Crawford remain with the team in 2020-21? If he takes a hometown discount, I believe so. I mean, who else would they bring in if they want to re-sign Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Strome? There’s a lot of moving pieces for the upcoming season.

Crawford as the 50/50 starter works for me, a full-time Crawford doesn’t. They have to look towards the future in net. The question is, do they already have that guy and if they don’t, where will they find him?