Long before stories of him kicking and choking players at prior coaching stops became public knowledge, Marc Crawford told the Blackhawks how much he appreciated hockey’s changing culture.
During the Blackhawks’ trip to Europe, Crawford opened up about what he had seen during his 25 years and counting as an NHL coach. Jonathan Toews and Robin Lehner both recounted the same story Wednesday.
And in light of Crawford’s ongoing suspension for physical abuse allegedly conducted while coaching the Canucks and Kings from the late 1990s to mid-2000s, as well as the Hawks’ decision to retain Crawford and reinstate him starting Jan. 2, that testimony comes at the perfect time.
“When we were in Prague, he was talking to the team about how happy he is that the culture has changed in the NHL, and that things are going about in a different way and [with] more communication, more back and forth,” Lehner said. “Not like that dictatorship that it was around the whole league before. He’s talked a lot about that.”
“Marc definitely made a point at the start of the year to talk about how the relationship between players and coaches has changed, and obviously he’s trying to take strides in the right direction,” Toews added. “So we have a lot of respect for him and his knowledge and his experience as he’s adapting to a new league and a new culture. We’re looking forward to getting him back in the locker room.”
Crawford’s statement Monday, accompanying the Hawks’ announcement, contained many of the same sentiments. The 58-year-old wrote he had “worked hard over the last decade” to learn “new ways of expressing and managing my emotions,” and acknowledged that these “conversations will set the course for future generations.”
The Blackhawks and Marc Crawford release statements: https://t.co/oN5Cv7PfTd
— Chicago Blackhawks (@NHLBlackhawks) December 16, 2019
The Hawks also reportedly talked to people within the Stars and Senators organizations — Crawford’s most recent NHL stops before Chicago — to find proof of recent good behavior, according to Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman.
And even Daniel Carcillo tweeted this week that he had “heard from several current players that Marc has acknowledged his wrong ways in the past and has exhibited zero signs of repeating that same behavior.”
So with Crawford’s self-admitted inappropriate conduct addressed and seemingly now flushed, the Hawks are simply happy his experienced perspective is coming back.
“When you’ve coached as long as he has, you’ve got a pretty good instinct as to what’s going on on the ice and who needs to hear what and what adjustments, what things need to happen within a game,” Toews said. “He’s just aware of little things that you can adapt to, and he’s always got the right thing to say when you come off the ice.”
Crawford worked often with the special teams units, both of which need the attention — the Hawks were 18th on the penalty kill and 22nd on the power play entering Wednesday.
He also exclusively handled the Hawks’ opponent pre-scouting, and both Patrick Kane and Olli Maatta raved about how good he is at that.
During his suspension, that duty has been added to head coach Jeremy Colliton’s laundry list of responsibilities, but it will apparently be transferred back to Crawford’s wheelhouse come January.
“The finer details of the game he was always aware of, whether it was faceoffs or how to enter cleanly in the other zone on a breakout, different things like that,” Kane said. “He’s definitely been missed, and all of us will be excited to have him back.”
