Chicago Blackhawks Give Collin Delia A Second Chance in Net

After spending nearly four months playing in the AHL, Collin Delia has made his return to the Chicago Blackhawks.

Collin Delia is back, having made his return to the NHL this month, he appeared in three games and started in two of them. For Chicago Blackhawks fans, this is the first they are seeing Delia after his brutal performance near the start of the season, where he allowed a total of 10 goals in two games, coming against the Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers.

Despite his early-season struggles, Delia is turning it around as he is putting together a few solid starts in the playing time that he has had.

However, before we take a look at his recent successful starts in net, let’s take a look back to January where we first saw Delia hit the ice for the Blackhawks for the 2020-21 season.

Early Season Struggles

Delia`s first start of the season came against the defending Stanley Cup Champions Tampa Bay Lightning, allowing a total of five goals on 37 shots.  

This was Delia`s fourth start in his career where he allowed five-plus goals, his last being against the Boston Bruins in the 2018-19 season when he allowed in six goals. In spite of the shaky performance against the Lightning, Delia got another chance against the Florida Panthers.

Although Delia got his second chance against the Panthers, his struggles continued allowing five goals on 36 shots extending his losing streak to start the season for the Blackhawks.

From there head coach Jeremey Colliton decided to send Delia down to the AHL and spend some time with Rockford IceHogs after his disappointing start to the NHL season.

Rockford IceHogs

Delia appeared in four games for the IceHogs winning two and losing two and making a total of 109 saves on 127 shots, and allowing a total of 18 goals to finish off his time in the AHL.

With that said, Delia`s goaltending struggles continued in the AHL as he had the highest goals-against average (GAA) among the other IceHogs goalies with 5.16.

As the Chicago Blackhawks season is coming to an end and their current netminder Kevin Lankinen is having a couple of shaky starts in net, Delia is awarded another opportunity to prove himself in net in the big leagues.

Redemption

Delia`s first appearance coming out of the AHL and into the NHL came against the Carolina Hurricanes, replacing Malcolm Subban after he allowed four goals on 18 shots. Delia took care of business saving all 19 shots to finish off the game.

With that said, Delia`s first official start in the net did not go as planned, allowing four goals on 26 shots against the Hurricanes. Delia showed a better outing in the final game of the Hurricanes series allowing only one goal on 37 shots, leading the Blackhawks to a win in overtime.

Delia`s next potential opportunity will come against the Dallas Stars, a team that is giving it all as they try to make a late playoff push.