Corey Crawford hasn’t yet held his end-of-year meeting with Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman, and he admits it might take more than one meeting to iron out his future.
But it’s clear Crawford’s heart remains squarely in Chicago.
The Blackhawks’ longtime cornerstone goalie, currently a pending unrestricted free agent, opened up Tuesday about his thought process entering the offseason.
“I would like to be back,” Crawford said. “We still have a lot of great pieces on this team. To win another [Stanley] Cup in Chicago would be unbelievable.”
At 35 years old, with a history of concussions, and coming off another turbulent season health-wise — Crawford recovered from COVID-19 just in time to play in the August playoffs — the veteran goalie said “short term may be better” for his next contract.
But he added he would also consider a longer contract — “three or four years” — if that’s what the Hawks prefer.
Most importantly, he clarified that playing time will trump salary in his ranking of priorities.
“I don’t know where our cap is,” Crawford said. “We have a bunch of guys we need to sign. That’s something that we’ll discuss in our meetings with Stan. But definitely I’m leaning toward staying in Chicago.
“I don’t want to play half the games and sit on the bench for stretches at a time. My value is just not as good doing that. I’m way more valuable playing games and playing consistently. It really depends on how much I’m going to be used. Salary, that can be discussed. That’s something that is not as important at this time.”
During the eight months the Hawks employed both Crawford and Robin Lehner, playing time was a source of tension.
Lehner complained after being traded to the Golden Knights in February about the Hawks’ unwillingness to let him take over the No. 1 goalie job despite his excellent play, and Crawford talked at length Tuesday about how much he, too, values playing “a ton.”
But now, hearing Crawford values playing time above salary will surely be music to Bowman’s ears.
The Hawks are in a brutally tight salary cap situation, with little flexibility and a long list of free agents — Crawford, Dominik Kubalik and Dylan Strome, plus Drake Caggiula, Slater Koekkoek and Malcolm Subban — to try to re-sign.
But they’re also facing a very cloudy outlook at goaltender, with both Crawford and Subban appearing on that list above.
So if Crawford — who made $6 million annually on his expiring contract — will take less money for more guaranteed playing time, that’s an exchange the Hawks will likely accept happily.
Tellingly, Crawford’s tone and usage of “we” Tuesday indicated he still clearly sees himself as a part of the Hawks franchise. A lighthearted moment when one of his young sons barged into the Zoom interview highlighted another factor: with a growing family settled down in Chicago, geographic stability also matters.
Crawford said his first of potentially several meetings with Bowman is scheduled for this week. Crawford’s agent, Gilles Lupien, will presumably become involved at some point, too.
It won’t be a quick process, though. The official October start date of free agency league-wide remains unclear, and while that won’t affect Crawford if he does re-sign with the Hawks (he could legally do so anytime), it will affect other Hawks moves that will subsequently affect Crawford.
“I don’t know how much is going to get done right away,” he said. “I assume things will happen closer to next season. So it’s going to be a waiting game.”
But the wait won’t change his desire to stay.
“We’ll see how those discussions go,” he said. “But staying in Chicago and trying to win again, that’s [priority] No. 1.”
