Justin Lowe: Corey Crawford, the Man Corey Crawford stepped in front of the media for, what I'm sure felt longer than 6 minutes and 20 seconds for the 33-year old goaltender.

The Blackhawks Fan Convention should have been renamed "What's wrong with Corey?" Convention as his health was the centre of attention as of Friday.

Spot on JL! As a fan, it gives you piece of mind to know what is going on with a very important piece to the organization. But if it's personal you just hope for the best for the man himself.

Spot on JL! As a fan, it gives you piece of mind to know what is going on with a very important piece to the organization. But if it's personal you just hope for the best for the man himself.
- nickmo2699

While I understand as I fan why I want Crow in the net after an abysmal last year with him out of it. But in reality, hockey players are "real" people too and Crow is not different. As long as we realize and separate the two, it will help us move on from this sad situation.

Crow has to worry about only person now and that is himself. Once he gets himself better other facets will start to fall in place. That said, get all the help you need Crow and get better. Me personally, am not keen on all this speculation other than Crow is not 100% and needs to get well for himself and not for Hawks or fans, short-term!
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Looking more and more like Corey will not be playing 60 games this year.

And if that's the case, and Stan is aware if that, I see why he has done very little this year. Hawks are toast without an A+ Corey.

Better to suck it up, take our lumps and add a couple of pieces NEXT off-season.

If Corey is done, his 6 million comes off the CAP as well. Bowman will have a boatload of $$$$ to chase some free agents.

Who are top few that may become free agents after this year????....any real difference makers????

Hopefully the next Bolland is in Rockford right now. No one will ever be the same, but I'd sure like to see that style of play/player again.

Get better for the sake of your family Corey and your long term health.

If "Rick from work's" job is to entertain people, and he is now deemed unfit to do that job, and it could possibly lead to a decrease in the quality of the entertainment that you're paying hundreds of dollars to view, then (frank) yes send out an email explaining the situation. It has nothing to do with who that person is as a human being, but it absolutely affects my desire to spend my money on somewhere where I think I'm buying apples but get oranges.

Looking more and more like Corey will not be playing 60 games this year.

And if that's the case, and Stan is aware if that, I see why he has done very little this year. Hawks are toast without an A+ Corey.

Better to suck it up, take our lumps and add a couple of pieces NEXT off-season.

If Corey is done, his 6 million comes off the CAP as well. Bowman will have a boatload of $$$$ to chase some free agents.

Who are top few that may become free agents after this year????....any real difference makers????
- hawk35

There's a lot of guys set to become free agents that are recognizable names I'm sure lots of people will be clamoring for...however, imo, very few are real difference makers. Seguin, Panarin, and Bobrovsky are a couple but i doubt they, like many of the other names on the list even make it to the market. Lots of guys re-sign or get traded then re-sign with the new team.

https://www.spotrac.com/nhl/free-agents/2019/ufa/

If "Rick from work's" job is to entertain people, and he is now deemed unfit to do that job, and it could possibly lead to a decrease in the quality of the entertainment that you're paying hundreds of dollars to view, then (frank) yes send out an email explaining the situation. It has nothing to do with who that person is as a human being, but it absolutely affects my desire to spend my money on somewhere where I think I'm buying apples but get oranges.
- Lato649

God damn Rick

If it were concussion, we would know by now it was concussion. If vertigo, we'd know it was vertigo. Whether by direct communication, or well placed leaks to confirm, but if any physical ailment, we'd know. Once you cross off the physical, figure out what is left that would warrant this level of dogged secrecy over 7 months.

Explains some of the urgency to move Hossa's contract now but not use the space. Pretty sure there is a max to LTIR cap help, and it's lower than Hossa + Crawford would be the next 2 seasons.

he's our human being.

^^^^ this. I will be happy to see him back on ice, but at this point I will gladly settle to see him make full recovery from whatever the issue is, period. As far as I am concerned as a Hawks fan, he can take all the time and space he needs. It is only hockey and CC gave this club so much in the past decade+.

It is up to Stan to come up with plan B now, be it Ward or someone who comes in after him. This is not and should not be on Crawford. He has a contract, but besides that he doesn't owe us anything.

If "Rick from work's" job is to entertain people, and he is now deemed unfit to do that job, and it could possibly lead to a decrease in the quality of the entertainment that you're paying hundreds of dollars to view, then (frank) yes send out an email explaining the situation. It has nothing to do with who that person is as a human being, but it absolutely affects my desire to spend my money on somewhere where I think I'm buying apples but get oranges.
- Lato649

You need to know a reason? Nobody knows for sure, but could very well be that CC misses half a season, maybe all of it. Bringing in Ward means CC is working towards coming back, but also that Hawks are not without insurance. If that is not enough for someone to decide if he/she wants to pay for the tickets, then where is the loyalty? Everyone knows this team isn't a contender, with or without Crawford, right now. To put more pressure on CC is harming in every way I can think of.

Nice write up. Probably best to assume he either will not be ready at the beginning of the season, or he will not be at the level he once was. Pretty hard for a goalie to be elite if anything is wrong with them.

Hopefully the next Bolland is in Rockford right now. No one will ever be the same, but I'd sure like to see that style of play/player again.
- BlazinMike

Hawks dont need another overpaid and over rated center.

Justin your analogy of using some everyday common worker is pathetic. Please give us a break and show more respect to us the fans who pay their salaries.


If this team can't be honest with its fan base as well well as season ticket holders who expect a great on ice product, then they should expect a significant drop off in sales.


Looking at this teams many problems , with no clear vision or urgency to address them why should we as paying fans be expected to pay or promote this type of behavior or garbage being passed off as a competitive team.

We deserve better then this.

3 recent plays we should remember -

Playoffs vs Blues where Brower elbowed Crow as he skated past him. Taking a slap shot between the eyes from Weber vs Montreal, and Malkin kneeing him well outside the crease.

Do you think, between the combination of the 3, and 2 where the league could have done something about but did not, he just doesn't want to put up with this $hit anymore?

It is up to Stan to come up with plan B now, be it Ward or someone who comes in after him. This is not and should not be on Crawford. He has a contract, but besides that he doesn't owe us anything.
- stonefire

110% correct.
I think most, if not all, of the posters here and fans of the team would agree. Crawford doesn't owe us an explanation.

However, I do think the Blackhawks organization needs to be straight-up with the people that buy season tickets, the people that buy the advertising -- essentially, anyone that spends $ (and in many cases, big $'s). Instead of the crap they have been feeding the media -- just be straight-up and say "we can't discuss what's wrong with Corey, we hope and expect him to make a full recovery and get back on the ice. However, we honestly DON'T KNOW when or IF that will happen."

Don't continue to express the baloney of expecting him to be ready for Camp or ready for game 1 of the regular season. These have all been quotes from the mouths of the Blackhawks brass.

And it's disingenuous.

THAT is what I believe most here are saying. And hopefully it is obvious that we are wishing Corey the best in terms of his recovery and health. If he's not able to rejoin the club, most of us would be pretty bummed -- and we'd hope that he is at least able to live a normal life from this point forward.

I doubt anyone wouldn't prioritize Crawford's health as a person over the needs of the team. We all want Corey to be well and live a long healthy and happy life.

But, the needs of the team matter too, albeit less than a person's health.

The Hawks don't have a top end goalie to step into Corey's skates - there's only (arguably) 10 or so goalies in the world that are as good as Corey and the other ones are spoken for. Whether Stan and Co. knew the possibility Corey wouldn't be ready to start the season they had to have a contingency plan and I guess Ward is that. But, Ward can't carry Crawford's jock and no way he carries the shaky Hawks defense on his back and into the playoffs. Realistically the Hawks are at best a bubble playoff team with a healthy Corey - without him they are in the Jack Hughes lottery.

And that's OK. I'm in the school of thought the Hawks need to be (re)building toward the 2020/21 season regardless if Corey comes back 100% or not. Besides, Jack Hughes in the Indianhead would speed up the (re)build considerably.

I believe the HAWKS are doing their best in a tough situation in Crow health concerns . They may just not know ,and that kind of what it sounds like .

Paying for tickets to watch the team play doesn't entitle you to the personal details of the players. Sorry, but you are buying tickets to watch hockey and the team doesn't really "owe you" much else above and beyond. They've shared that Crawford is injured and tried to give an idea of when they "expect" him to return.

The fact that he was at the convention answering questions is a positive sign. Hopefully he continues his progress on returning, but doesn't seem like he is missing the season IMO, or he wouldn't have been there in front of the press.

I don't buy that it's an addiction problem.

Hundreds (thousands?) of celebs and athletes have come out with addiction problems, and each one of them has received mostly positive support from friends, team mates and the general public. There's really not a stigma on addiction anymore.

It's physical, perhaps neurological, and thus the uncertainty on when he will be back.

And please stop the 'they should tell us what the problem is' rant. The Blackhawks can't say what it is without CC's approval, and he has chosen not to reveal the details. Respect the man and honor his wishes.

And if CC never plays another game, he's already given more to Blackhawk fans than they could ever expected to have received.

I don't buy that it's an addiction problem.

Hundreds (thousands?) of celebs and athletes have come out with addiction problems, and each one of them has received mostly positive support from friends, team mates and the general public. There's really not a stigma on addiction anymore.

It's physical, perhaps neurological, and thus the uncertainty on when he will be back.

And please stop the 'they should tell us what the problem is' rant. The Blackhawks can't say what it is without CC's approval, and he has chosen not to reveal the details. Respect the man and honor his wishes.

And if CC never plays another game, he's already given more to Blackhawk fans than they could ever expected to have received.
- scottak

No one is saying that, so quit telling everyone to stop doing it.

Read Savyone's post above if you want to know what everyone is saying.

If it were concussion, we would know by now it was concussion. If vertigo, we'd know it was vertigo. Whether by direct communication, or well placed leaks to confirm, but if any physical ailment, we'd know. Once you cross off the physical, figure out what is left that would warrant this level of dogged secrecy over 7 months.
- Cmonalready

No we wouldn’t, CC is in control of his medical records, treatment and disclosure not the Blackhawks. I wouldn’t rule out either, both or something entirely different.

We can speculate till the cows come home, but in reality only Corey, the doctors/medical staff know what he’s dealing with.

vabeachbear, with all due respect, please see post from lato649 above.