NOT EXACTLY COLLIN IT QUITS
KNOCKED OUT OF BACKUP SPOT WITH LEHNER’S ARRIVAL, UP-AND-COMER DELIA IS TARGETING TOP JOB
While Corey Crawford remains the Blackhawks’ cornerstone goalie (for now), the addition of Robin Lehner, a 2019 Vezina Trophy finalist, changes things significantly. Crawford’s injury struggles aside, Hawks goaltending coach Jimmy Waite can hardly go wrong with a pair this experienced and talented.
And Waite’s face makes it clear: He’s excited about the season to come.
So perhaps you can’t blame him for writing 25-year-old Collin Delia — who most thought had won the backup job after he signed a three-year, one-way contract in February — completely out of the picture.
“It’s good for [Delia] this year to be able to play another year [in the AHL] and get some more experience and make sure that, when he comes in for good in the NHL, that you’re ready for it,” Waite said Friday at the Blackhawks Convention.
But Delia himself has other plans. “I’m heading into camp trying to be the starting goalie,” he said shortly after. “Even if somebody had me pen
ciled in at the start of this year as a 2, I wasn’t going into camp trying to be a 2. I want to be a starting goalie in this league and for this team, and I think I have the ability. It’s not a matter of how, but when.”
Statistically, Lehner, 28, was the clear best of the three goalies last season. He ranked second in the league with a .930 save percentage, albeit on a much more defensively stout Islanders team. (With the Sabres the season before, his save percentage was .908.)
Crawford and Delia were essentially identical with .908 averages with the Hawks. But of course, that doesn’t make them equal. The 34-year-old Crawford has proven himself repeatedly over his decade-long career; Delia was only signed two years ago as an undrafted college free agent.
And while Delia sunk his average with an .880 mark from Jan. 17 on, Crawford returned Feb. 27 from his second injury absence and had a .919 save percentage in 16 appearances the rest of the season.
“I thought he was the same old Crow the last month or so,” Waite said.
Naturally, then, much of the attention has focused on how Crawford, not Delia, has responded to Lehner’s addition. Crawford is one of few players not in attendance at the convention this weekend, but Waite said adding Lehner wasn’t made to send a message to him.
“Corey’s been hurt a lot the past two years,” Waite said. “Bringing in a second veteran guy, we had to do that this year [because] this is a very big year for us. We needed that to protect ourselves if something happens. Hopefully, everything’s going to go smoothly.”
Still, Delia can make a convincing case that his 2018-19 performance deserves a little more thought than it’s receiving going into training camp. He has watched Martin Brodeur clips all summer while working on his own puck-moving skills. He’s also about to open a leather store in Pilsen. He doesn’t sound like a man planning to leave Chicago soon.
“If anything, [the change in plans] was reinvigorating,” he said. “If this is what I want to do, if this is the business I want to be involved in, things like this are going to happen. I want to eventually be the starter here one day, and I will have to do things each year to prove that.”