Blackhawks go- and so should Crow
The Chicago Blackhawks had two options entering their fifth straight overtime game against the Phoenix Coyotes: Wait around until Corey Crawford gave up some Snuggle Bear-soft goal to Mikkel Boedker, or end the game before it got to that point.
The Warriors of the Four Feathers were eliminated from the playoffs last night by the Phoenix Coyotes, and three of their four defeats came when Crawford muffed easy stops in overtime. And it especially hurts because, with the exceptions of Boston and the Rangers (and maybe the Caps)- each of whom is one game from elimination- all the elite teams have likewise bitten the dust. Pittsburgh, Detroit, San Jose, Vancouver are gone. The Cup this year will probably be won by a team nobody figured would have a shot.
My guess is that it will be St. Louis. If it is, we'll never hear the end of it. Our only defense will be to point out that the Blues will still have won one fewer Stanley Cups than the Cubs have World Series.
In any event, Corey Crawford carried his woefully inconsistent pattern over the regular season into the playoffs. Crawford might well be nicknamed "Streaky" rather than "Crow;" he can be counted on to play brilliantly right up until the worst possible moment, when he suddenly becomes a sieve.
Or not. Sometimes he plays brilliantly for weeks at a time, only to revert to Bad Corey for weeks at a time. He averaged out this year to be at best a mediocre goalie. In this, Crow's first complete season as the Hawks' starting goaltender, the Good Guys finished 12th among the 30 teams in the NHL in goals allowed. No team can do that badly between the pipes and claim to be among the league's elite. And when the problems the Hawks had this season on the blue line (hopefully resolved with the late-season addition of Johnny Oduya) are added to the equation, you have a team with no real pretence to being a Stanley Cup caliber team.
Have the Hawks improved from last season, when a team decimated by the salary cap that was the last in deceased owner Bill Wirtz's many injuries to the team he mismanaged so badly for so long? Maybe.
Wirtz- in case you missed this- almost single-handedly talked the NHL Board of Governors into adopting the cap, which forced the 2010 Stanley Cup champions- a young team which seemed set to contend for a decade- to dump several key players and instantly drop back to the middle of the NHL pack. Last year they finished eighth in the Western Conference, making the playoffs on the final day of the regular season and coming back from a three games to none deficit to force overtime in Game Seven of the first round.
Crow's stellar play was one key reason for the comeback, just as his inability to thwart Vancouver early in the series was a key reason why the Hawks had to make that comeback. When Corey Crawford is good, he is very, very good. But one thing he is not is reliable. And reliability in goal is not optional for a Stanley Cup contender.
This year the Hawks looked like an elite team for most of the season. But after the All-Star break they went into a swoon that included a streak of nine games without a victory. In fact, they were streaky even before that. The Blackhawks started 8-2-2. For the next ten games, they were 4-5-1. Then they went 11-2-1, then 1-4-1, and then 5-0-1. And then they went 0-8-1.
They never completely recovered from that rough stretch. But still, they finished sixth in the Conference this year instead of eighth, and seemed to have a much more beatable first-round opponent in Phoenix.
The guts and grit which characterized last year's Hawks in the playoffs were still in evidence this year. Four times they trailed the Coyotes late in the third period, only to tie the game in the closing minutes. They lost three of the four on soft overtime goals in sudden death.
The Hawks' problems are finite and reversible, The stupid and unnecessary trade of defenseman Brian Campbell last summer threw the Hawks' blue line into a state of chaos which only a late-season trade for Oduya seems to have ended. The Hawks, it seems to me, could still use some help on defense, but that problem at least seems on the way to being resolved.
Their power play and penalty killing units both stink. They obviously miss the ability to dominate the shooting lanes and the opposition goal crease provided by somebody like Dustin Byfuglien. Jonathan Toews was out through most of the late season due to a concussion, and never really hit his stride; Andrew Shaw was suspended for messing with Phoenx goalie Mike Smith, Marian Hossa was removed from the equation by Raffi Torres's infamously dirty hit, and neither Patrick Kane nor Patrick Sharp seemed to show up for this series. Actually, it should be said that the inconsistency of Crow this season was characteristic of the Hawks' offensive stars generally. But nobody doubts the future of Toews or Sharp or Kane or Shaw or Hossa. The jury is still out on Crow.
Before the collapse, Detroit Mike Babcock said, "A few weeks ago, everyone thought Chicago was going to win the West. A little adversity never killed anybody. It’s just how you respond from it.” Well, adversity is one thing. Inconsistency is another. It's the inconsistency the Hawks must address above all, and it seems to me that it starts in goal.
Yes, I know that the immortal Tony Esposito was renowned for giving up soft goals. In fact, at times it seemed that the only goals Tony Zero ever gave up were soft ones. But Corey Crawford is no Tony Esposito. I am also aware that it took a while for Hall of Famer Ed Belfour to achieve consistency. But Crow is no Eddie the Eagle, either.
The strength of the Hawks' farm system is unparalleled depth. Its weakness is an almost complete lack of star potential. The Buffalo Sabres are in deep rebuilding mode, and their star goalie, Ryan Miller- the guy who starred in net for the U.S. Olympic hockey silver medalists in 2008- had an off year. It might be possible to package Crow with five or six of our journeyman prospects in a deal for Miller. Right now the Sabres need competent players in volume; that's one thing the Hawks' organization has in strong supply.
The San Jose Sharks thought that taking advantage of the Hawks' salary cap problems by signing Antti Niemi away from the then- Stanley Cup champion Hawks would bring the Cup to Team Teal. It didn't work. The Sharks barely made the playoffs, and were eliminated in the first round by St. Louis. Perhaps a deal to bring Antti back to Chicago could be worked out. It would certainly be a popular move with the fans, and other than getting Miller it would be the solution I myself would most like to see. Whether the Hawks could provide a quid pro quo the Sharks would find attractive is another matter.
Cam Ward of the Hurricanes, Miikka Kiprusoff of the Flames, Evgeni Nabokov of the Isles, and Nikolai Khabibulin of the Oilers could each be available for the right price, and it might well be one the Hawks could afford. Regrettably, none of the goalies in the Hawks' farm system appear to have much more potential than Corey.
But it seems to me that the Blackhawks' chances of winning another Cup any time soon depends on finding a top-notch goalie. And sadly, despite the high hopes I had for him, Corey Crawford seems not to fit the bill.
I frankly expect him to be in the crease again when the season starts next October. And whether he is or not may well be a test of how committed Rocky Wirtz and the Bowmans are to winning another Cup. Especially the way Brian Elliott is playing, the Blues- whom I have a hunch are going to be the ones to hoist Lord Stanley's mug this year, due in large measure to their ridiculous depth in goal- as well as the Preds, the Sharks, the Canucks, and even the aging Red Wings will be formidable obstacles within our own conference in coming years, and that doesn't even address teams like Pittsburgh and the Rangers and the Flyers and the Caps and the Bruins in the East.
Whatever chance the Hawks have of regaining their status as an elite team depends on making some bold moves. I think they will. But the one which might prove the most necessary in the long run- replacing Corey Crawford in goal- is the one necessary move I am regrettably least confident that they will make.
ADDENDUM: The contrasting responses of Crow and of Captain Jonathan Toews to the Hawks' ouster speak volumes. And I think the analysis of the author of this article is spot on: Crow is part of the problem, but so is the lack of a second-line center anda Byfuglien-type big guy in front of the net.
Stan Bownman needs to address all three problems before the Hawks lace 'em up again.
Lowlights and analysis courtesy of ESPN:
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