The Corey Crawford Era Is Over With The Chicago Blackhawks

The Chicago Blackhawks are letting one of the top goalies in franchise history walk when Corey Crawford hits free agency on Friday.

Personally, I never would have thought Corey Crawford would play an NHL game with a different team, yet here we are. The Chicago Blackhawks announced earlier today that Crawford would not re-sign with the team.

Corey Crawford has been the Blackhawks starting goalie since 2011. Drafted in the second round of the 2003 NHL draft, Crawford has played in 488 games with the Blackhawks and has gotten 260 wins.

Crow has also been a vital part of the Blackhawks’ postseason success. Crawford has won 52 playoff games with the Blackhawks and should have won the Conn Smythe in 2013. The way Crow played the game was so fun to watch, and his passion for the ‘Hawks was on full display when he was willing to fight opposing teams.

Thank you, Corey Crawford, for your contributions to the Chicago Blackhawks, and best of luck to you on wherever you go next. Moving forward, the Blackhawks are going to be weaker in net unless they go out and add a free agent goalie. However, this message from Stan Bowman makes it seem like the team won’t be adding any goalies.

Maybe Stan Bowman wants to see how Lankinen and Delia do at the NHL level next season. While the Blackhawks are worse off without Crawford, it certainly would speed up a rebuild. Blackhawk fans will also have to grapple with the idea of other veteran players moving on to new teams in the future if Bowman wants to move further into a youth movement.

Crawford is yet another core member of the Blackhawks to get passed on from the ‘Hawks. Like Niklas Hjalmarsson being traded on draft day, this move will definitely shake up the team. It is hard to imagine that the Blackhawks had Robin Lehner and Corey Crawford as their goalie tandem a year ago today. Now the team is moving forward with Delia and Lankinen instead.