The Blackhawks probably know where is Corey Crawford is, what he’s dealing with, and if they’ll have him back by Aug. 1.
But they aren’t saying.
That means Malcolm Subban is, for now, the leading candidate to start in goal against the Oilers.
Subban was one of the first six players to attend the Hawks’ first informal Phase 2 workouts at Fifth Third Arena back on June 10, indicating he might’ve known for a while about the huge opportunity that lay ahead. In fact, he’s participated in every single workout and practice that he possibly could’ve since hockey returned from its coronavirus shutdown.
Asked Wednesday when he found out about Crawford’s mysterious circumstance, however, Subban awkwardly bumbled through his response, clearly unsure how much to disclose.
“Kind of like the first day...when I...when we didn’t see him here, obviously,” Subban said. “So I don’t really know too much about what’s going on, it’s kind of just a day-by-day thing. But yeah, that’s pretty much all I know.”
The NHL has made it clear with their universal ‘unfit to play’ designation that they want absolutely nothing disclosed. It’s a move designed to protect players’ privacy in case they’ve caught COVID-19, even though it conversely leads to rampant assumptions that all ‘unfit’ players indeed do have COVID-19, whereas not all do.
So internally, it’s likely the Hawks’ coaching staff and players do have at least some general idea whether or not to plan for Crawford to appear eventually.
That makes it interesting that Subban was far more decisive about one of his other comments Wednesday: “It could end up being the opportunity of a lifetime.”
Without a doubt, this is a huge chance for the 26-year-old netminder to resurrect his career.
Subban was highly touted as the Bruins’ first-round pick in 2012 — his brother P.K.’s superstardom only slightly contributing to that — and had a solid 2017-18 NHL debut season with the expansion Golden Knights, going 13-4-2 with a .910 save percentage.
The past two years have brought about a major decline in his play, though. He dropped to 8-10-2 with a .902 save percentage in 2018-19, then improved his record to 9-7-3 but saw his save percentage fall to an ugly .890 this season.
When the Knights acquired Robin Lehner at the deadline, Subban was basically a throw-in addition to the package headed back to Chicago. He played just 71 seconds in the eight games between the deadline and coronavirus shutdown, and if he leaves as a free agent this fall, he could end up having the shortest Hawks career ever (looking at just the regular season).
But the man with the shortest Hawks career ever is now also, incredibly, the man the Hawks might count on to backstop their playoff run.
Subban is hoping his maximum practice time this summer will help him capitalize on the chance.
“We were skating for three or four weeks, and I thought I was back on the little small things,” he said. “And then I got out with [Hawks goalie coach Jimmy Waite] for the first time and realized I still had a lot of stuff to work on. But just getting out there and trying to correct those little back habits that formed and also getting back into game shape, every skate will help.”
Subban will have to fend off Collin Delia, who has more familiarity with the organization and excelled in the latter half of the AHL season, for the job.
Given Subban’s NHL experience and contract status, though, it’s safe to say he’s the favorite for now.
Unless, of course, Crawford suddenly appears.
