End of an era: Corey Crawford's time with Blackhawks is up

Stan Bowman made a bombshell announcement Thursday that the Blackhawks will not be re-signing goaltender Corey Crawford for next season.

Thus ends a remarkable career for the only netminder to win multiple Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks.

"It was a bit of an emotional talk," Bowman said. "Corey and I go back a long time."

Despite sharing the net with Robin Lehner, Crawford had a standout second half of the 2019-20 campaign and played extremely well in the postseason against Edmonton and Vegas. He finishes his Hawks career with 260 regular-season victories and 52 more in the playoffs.

"He's up there with the legends of the Blackhawks - Tony Esposito, Glenn Hall, Corey Crawford," Bowman said. "Looking back at his career trajectory, he never got the proper recognition early on. We had such star-studded teams."

Now the Hawks will likely turn the net over to Collin Delia, Kevin Lankinen or Malcolm Subban. (Subban is now an unrestricted free agent, but Bowman is hopeful the Hawks can re-sign him).

All three come extremely cheap, but it's fair to wonder how they'll perform over an entire season.

"With any young goalie, there's always an opportunity where you have to give them a chance to see what they can do," Bowman said. "We saw that with (Antti) Niemi, we saw that with Crawford, we saw that with (Antti) Raanta.

"We see that with a lot of young guys - that they do need a chance to get into the league and see what they can do."

Crawford is the third winningest goalie in Hawks history, behind only Esposito (418) and Hall (276). His save percentage (.918) and goals-against average (2.45) rank No. 1 among players with at least 100 starts.

Crawford was soft-spoken behind the scenes, but could also engage in long conversations with teammates and media alike.

Between the pipes, he was all business. He learned early on to move on after an opponent scored.

Don't let things snowball. It was a philosophy he carried with him every day, and it's a big reason he had so much success.

Even when Crawford faced some serious adversity during that 2015 Cup run - being replaced by Scott Darling in that opening-round series against Nashville - he didn't rant publicly about his plight.

Instead, he supported and mentored Darling. That decision alone may have helped the Hawks move on.

"That just shows his character," Darling said in a phone interview Thursday evening. "Things that should have been awkward between us were not. And for me as a rookie pigeon, I was upset about upsetting my idol, Corey Crawford.

"But all he did was champion me and help me be the best. He pushed me in practice. He was great about the whole thing. ... I can't thank him enough."

After Darling allowed 3 first-period goals in Game 6, Joel Quenneville sent Crawford back to the crease.

The United Center erupted, Crawford returned to form, and the Hawks went on to claim their third Cup in six seasons.

"We never would have won it without Corey," Bowman said. "At that time people started to recognize really how important he was and how great a goaltender he was."

Crawford helped lead the Hawks to the playoffs the next two seasons, but they were bounced in the first round both times.

The 2017-18 and 2018-19 campaigns were both tough ones for Crawford as he battled concussions.

He was thrown a bit of a curveball last season when the Hawks signed Lehner, but he remained a true pro and never complained about sharing the net. The two also became fast friends.

I'll never forget interviewing Crawford for a story and Lehner coming by to rub his back.

"(Hell) yeah. I love you too," Crawford told Lehner. He then turned to me and said: "He's a great guy to sit next to. I mean I feel like I can talk to him about anything."

Once Lehner was traded to Vegas, Crawford started showing Hawks fans he wasn't quite done. He went 5-2-0 in his last seven starts, allowing 2 goals six times and 3 goals once.

He then missed almost all of summer training camp after contracting the coronavirus, yet returned to lead the Hawks past the Oilers in the play-in phase of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Now he's gone.

So is this it for Crawford? Will he retire? Or might he sign with another team?

He was adamant late last season that he doesn't want to be a backup.

If Crawford wants to win another Cup, maybe he signs with Colorado. The Rangers are a team on the rise as well and could desperately use a veteran netminder.

Time will tell, but sadly for Hawks fans, Crawford's time is now up in Chicago.

• • •

As for the top free agents, watch for teams to go hard after defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, winger Taylor Hall, defenseman Torey Krug and goalie Jacob Markstrom.

There are more than a half-dozen 30-something goaltenders available, including Thomas Greiss (34), Henrik Lundqvist (38), Mike Smith (38), Cam Talbot (33), Jimmy Howard (36) and Aaron Dell (31). Maybe one signs with the Hawks for cheap?

Maybe - but don't count on it.

Bowman's biggest moves may have come already as he signed European free agent Pius Suter ($925,000) and traded for Brandon Pirri ($775,000). He's also expecting young defensemen like Ian Mitchell, Lucas Carlsson, Dennis Gilbert and Nicolas Beaudin to challenge for roster spots.

"If I were guessing, there'll be some slower activity," Bowman said of the free-agent market. "But we'll see. It may not play out that way. I think there's probably a handful of guys who are in such an elite tier that they may go quickly.

"But with the quantity of players out there, there's going to be a lot of discussions. We'll have to see where that goes."

Free-agent frenzy

John Dietz breaks down his top 12 NHL unrestricted free agents:

<b>1. Alex Pietrangelo, D, St. Louis </b>He's reportedly asking for $9 million a year. That will be too much for the Blues, so the sides will either have to find a middle ground or the 30-year-old Pietrangelo - who has 58 goals and 137 assists the last four seasons - will be playing elsewhere.

<b>2. Taylor Hall, LW, Arizona</b>Hall scored 39 goals for New Jersey in 2017-18, got hurt the next season and saw his production fall to 16 goals in 2019-20. Still, he's an immense talent.

<b>3. Torey Krug, D, Boston</b>Wants to stay in Boston but also wants a long-term deal. Has 87 assists last two seasons, 54 of which have come on power play.

<b>4. Jacob Markstrom, G, Vancouver </b>Canucks would love to bring their big goaltender back. His numbers aren't spectacular, but he was also playing for a team that struggled defensively.

<b>5. Mike Hoffman, winger, Florida</b>Steady scorer with six straight 20-goal seaons, Hoffman has 169 goals and 184 assists over that time. A five-year deal to a playoff-caliber team seems like the right path for the veteran.

<b>6. Tyler Tofooli, winger, Vancouver</b>Tofoli, a four-time 20-goal scorer, is on record that he'd like to stay with the Canucks. His veteran presence would really help out this up-and-coming squad.

<b>7 Braden Holtby, G, Washington</b>Holtby's goals-against average the last three seasons have been 2.99, 2.82 and 3.11. Still, he's a big name and somebody will pony up the dough. But are his best days behind him?

<b>8. Evgenii Dadonov, RW, Florida </b>After three straight 25-goal seasons, watch for Dadonov to ink a solid deal. It may be with the Panthers, who can ill afford to lose two big-time scorers if they hope to compete.

<b>9. T.J. Brodie, D, Calgary</b>Steady defenseman. Will be interesting to see if Flames can afford to bring him back.

<b>10. Anton Khudobin, G, Dallas</b>Any time a goalie leads a team to the Stanley Cup Final he's going to command attention. Khudobin's 34, though, so anything more than a 3-year deal would be a bit shocking.

<b>11. Mikael Granlund, C/RW, Nashville </b>Granlund will be on a new team next season. But will that team overpay?

<b>12. Corey Crawford, G, Blackhawks</b>Probably have him ranked 2-3 spots too high, but what playoff-caliber team wouldn't want a two-time Cup winner in net? Injury history will make teams pause, however.