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Let me caveat this blog with the following—I've always been a Ray Emery fan.
When I was spending a lot of time in Canada from 2003-2006, I saw Emery play and win a lot of games for the Senators, including a run to the 2007 Stanley Cup Finals.
When the Hawks signed him in the summer of 2011, injured hip and all, I thought it was a smart move. And I never thought (for a minute) Alexander Salak should have made the team over Ray.
Corey Crawford supporters will point out, and generally rightly so, that he's had a very good year statistically. But the truth is, although the statistics are extremely close, Emery's been the better goalie.
And Emery, although just a couple of years older than Crawford, has significantly more experience and has gone further in the playoffs.
The suspicions about Emery's experimentally repaired hip and his durability are valid—he is currently out resting the hip, which apparently tightened up on him after a recent period of heavy activity. That said, it is not necessarily fair to assume that more activity means more likelihood of injury to the hip—anything could have caused it.
The fact is, the hip—and any resulting mobility issues as assessed by scores of armchair goalie coaches on blogs (99% of whom never played goalie even in Squirts)—has not prevented Emery from having an outstanding season and a few individual games where he's been amazing. The kind of games you occasionally need from your goalie to win a Stanley Cup.
The 47 save performance in Calgary earlier this season was one of the best games I've ever seen from a goalie. He can still play. Period.
Regardless, due to Emery's hip, Crawford is probably the more athletic of the two goalies at this point, and will make the highlight reel save now and then or string some together during a game.
But what I saw last night in the Hawks' 3-2 overtime loss to the Coyotes was all too familiar. It's mid April, the Hawks are facing Phoenix and a red hot Mike Smith, and Crawford is starting to fall apart.
Was he absolutely dreadful throughout the game? Nope. But he was going down way too early, losing track of pucks and players behind the net (as he did the night before versus Nashville) and letting in some pretty soft goals.
The truth is, both goalies have had good seasons. But in fairness, Emery has not been that bad, except for his opening performance of the season—after not playing for nearly a year.
And that, really, is why I say Emery has to be 1A to Crawford's 1B for the Hawks in the playoffs.
Both guys are going to play, and Crawford could emerge at some point, in top form, and lock it down for the Hawks all the way to the Cup. But the possibility of Crawford having an epic meltdown at the wrong time, as he did in the Phoenix series last year, is always there too.
With Emery, it really isn't. Say what you want about Emery's hip or some off-ice issues earlier in his career. This guy is a battler and mentally as tough as they come. And I believe his teammates know it, and as a result, play a little more confidently in front of him.
And that is why you go with him, as the more reliable of two goalies, neither of whom is really elite. Crawford is the guy who will give you the bigger save now and then. Emery is the guy who will give you the W's, especially when it counts.
So allow me to close with a couple of bad puns. Razor gets the edge. And in the end, Razor could be the edge.
All for now,
JJ
Chicago Blackhawks Blogger • 
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