CROW COULD MAKE TRIP TO EDMONTON
Hawks are hopeful that goalie Crawford will travel with the team to Edmonton
The Blackhawks are “shooting for” goaltender Corey Crawford to join the team and travel to Edmonton on Sunday.
General manager Stan Bowman gave by far the most optimistic — though still vague — description of Crawford’s status Tuesday.
“We are hopeful” that Crawford will travel with the team, Bowman said. “We’ll be able to give you a better idea when we get closer to the weekend, but it’s something that we’re still shooting for . ... We’re still hoping that’s the case.”
Crawford did not attend any of the Hawks’ Phase 2 workouts, which began June 10, and has not appeared at training camp, which started last week.
He has been described by coach Jeremy Colliton as “unfit to participate,” the NHL’s new universal term for all players missing from practice, be it because of injury, COVID-19 or any other reason.
Trade-deadline addition Malcolm Subban and AHL goalies Collin Delia and Kevin Lankinen have been battling for the No. 1 job.
“Whenever we get him back, if we get him back, it’s our job to get him ready as quickly as we can, and we’ll go from there,” Colliton said.
Crawford’s return for the Hawks’ playoff run, which begins Aug. 1 against the Oilers, could prove crucial to the team’s chances.
The two-time Stanley Cup champion tied for 15th in the league this season with a .917 save percentage despite playing behind one of the NHL’s leakiest defenses. He was 11th in goals saved above average, a stat that takes into account quality of shots faced, and fifth in save percentage vs. high-danger shots.
He got even better as the season progressed, with a .928 save percentage in 20 appearances after New Year’s Day and a 5-2-0 record with a .934 save percentage in his last seven starts.
“Obviously, Corey is an all-world goaltender,” defenseman Duncan Keith said. “[We] saw what he was doing for us last year, especially toward the end of the year. But without a training camp, without being here — if there’s one guy who could step in, it would be him.”
Despite the encouraging news about Crawford, Tuesday’s practice was marred by the somewhat concerning absence of another key member of the Hawks’ veteran core.
Captain Jonathan Toews left midway through practice Monday after breaking his stick in a power-play drill, and Colliton dismissed it as a non-concern hours later, saying it was “nothing other than” the team “trying to keep him fresh.”
But Toews never showed Tuesday, and Colliton labeled him “unfit to participate” afterward. It could be that Toews simply needed a rest day, as the Hawks have been practicing intensely almost every day, but the league disclosure rules don’t leave space for Colliton to provide that clarity.
“As far as Toews, the term we’re being asked to use as a blanket is ‘unfit to participate,’ ” Colliton said. “So that’s how we’ll phrase it.”
Meanwhile, Connor Murphy skated on his own before practice, and fellow defenseman Calvin de Haan skated on the second rink at Fifth Third Arena. The rest of the team pushed through a grueling 90-minute practice that included two scrimmages.
Murphy had been missing since Friday and also had received the “unfit” designation. De Haan had been missing since last Tuesday because of what Colliton described as a “family emergency.”
Neither player participated in contact drills, but both looked generally healthy and able in their skates.
“We’ll get them going as quickly as we can,” Colliton said. “When they [will] join the full group, I don’t know. But certainly a good sign that we got them going.”
In the last two summers alone, the Blackhawks have poached five of the more NHLready stars in the various European hockey leagues.
Last year, it was the Czech Republic’s Dominik Kubalik and Sweden’s Anton Wedin and Philip Holm. Two were busts in North America, but the other turned into a Calder Trophy finalist.
This year, it’s the Czech Republic’s Matej Chalupa and Switzerland’s Pius Suter.
Chalupa is considered more of a project and likely will start the 2020-21 season in the AHL. But Suter, whose sweepstakes the Hawks just won last Thursday, is expected to be in the Hawks’ lineup as soon as his contract goes into effect this fall.
“We think he’s going to be an NHL player for us next year,” general manager Stan Bowman said Tuesday. “We expect him to be on our team.”
Suter, like Kubalik, was the Swiss league’s leading scorer this past season with Zurich SC, and Bowman was quick to point out that he actually scored more goals than Kubalik.
The two young forwards don’t play the exact same style, but they share some common traits — quick hands, strong shots, magnetism toward high-threat areas — that generally translate well to the smaller rinks of the NHL.
“[Suter is] a very intelligent player, plays a good two-way game, very good around the net,” coach Jeremy Colliton said.
It’ll be fascinating to see how much of an impact Suter makes upon his arrival, but for now, the most interesting aspect of his signing is the continuation of the Hawks’ robust European pipeline.
As an organization, the Hawks are overflowing with European league connections.
Current assistant coach Marc Crawford coached Zurich from 2012 to 2016 and jump-started Suter’s career with the team in 2015-16, his rookie season. Suter’s agent, Georges Muller, said last week the Crawford connection was a big part of Suter’s decision.
Bowman on Tuesday noted the European connections maintained by Ryan Stewart, the Hawks’ newly promoted assistant GM of pro scouting, and Mats Hallin, the Hawks’ director of European scouting, as another contributing factor.
“I’ve got to give them credit,’’ Bowman said. ‘‘They do a great job, not only identifying the players but spending a lot of time with them.
“The second part [is] your track record does matter. We’ve shown a willingness to give these players a good opportunity and not just put them on the team, but put them in positions where they’re going to have a chance to do well.”