On Blackhawks Goaltending

The Blackhawks starting goalie, Corey Crawford recently took fourth place in franchise wins (behind only first ballot Hall of Famers Tony Esposito, Glenn Hall and Ed Belfour), yet when goaltender Scott Darling was recently signed to a much deserved two year contract extension shortly before the NHL trade deadline there were calls for Crawford's head on social media.

The Blackhawks are in a very similar position to where they were in 1992 in regards to goaltending, a veteran climbing in franchise wins standings (Ed Belfour then, Corey Crawford now) and two capable rookies competing for the backup spot (Jimmy Waite (yes, the now goaltending coach) and Dominik Hašek (you may have heard of him)).

How things played out in 1992 (with Bob Pulford and Bill Wirtz running the Hawks and Ed Belfour's personality coming into play) was this: Belfour and Hašek split a deep playoff run before falling to the likes of Mario Lemieux and Jaromír Jágr in the Stanley Cup Finals who swept the series to win their second straight Cup. After the playoffs, Belfour felt threatened by the play of Hašek, who had been a complete unknown until that point, and went to management giving them a "he goes or I go" ultimatum. Hašek was shipped off to Buffalo, both goalies went on to Hall of Fame careers, meeting in the 1999 Stanley Cup Finals as a Star and a Sabre.

Blackhawks management in 1992 opted not to trade their starting goaltender and instead traded the backup who was competing for minutes. Belfour was later traded to San Jose when he felt threatened by a different backup. 

Corey Crawford has proven he can win, he is forth in franchise wins behind the aforementioned Belfour, Hall and Esposito. Scott Darling and Antti Raanta are rookies, there is no telling what their ceiling is. Sometimes young goalies who get shipped somewhere else flourish (Hašek in Buffalo, Hall (came from Detroit) and Esposito (came from Montréal) in Chicago) but other times their play is more average or above average (Niemi, the Blackhawks 2010 Cup Winner, in San Jose). 

Red Wings fans in 1957, Canadiens fans in 1969 and Blackhawks fans in 1992 weren't expecting to lose a future Hall of Famer, however those are the rare cases where a young goaltender who showed signs of promise actually did work out. I do not know examples for the reverse because goalies changing due to the surroundings is very common, just look at Devan Dubnyk or Ray Emery the past few seasons.

I trust that Stan Bowman, and his support staff, including his father Scotty, who coached one of the greatest goalies every to play the game in Ken Dryden, know how to evaluate the current situation with three NHL caliber goalies, and if history is any indication, their plans do not include trading Corey Crawford. In fact, I can only recall two times a goalie was traded at the peak of his career when he was high in franchise wins: Ed Belfour (3rd in franchise wins) from Blackhawks to Sharks in 1997 and Patrick Roy (2nd in franchise wins) from Canadiens to Avalanche in 1995. In both cases the goalie had off ice issues with the team. There is no indication Crawford has any off ice issues that impact his play.

I cannot say that Corey Crawford will be in the Hockey Hall of Fame one day, though his numbers are pointing in that direction, however he is a proven winner and the veteran that is needed to mentor young goalies such as Scott Darling and Antti Raanta.

#TeuvoTime trending in Chicago: is hype good for prospects

Teuvo Teräväinen was recently recalled from the Rockford IceHogs due to an injury to Kris Versteeg in the Winter Classic. Typically, when a player is recalled due to another player's injury, the focus is on the injured player, however the Blackhawks have seen the focus placed on the recalled player twice this season.

The second time Corey Crawford was injured this season, Scott Darling was recalled from the Rockford IceHogs, like he had been during the previous injury. Darling had been a steady force in net during his first brief stint with the Blackhawks and there were fans ready for his return. When Darling continued to post good numbers in the Indian Head people began calling for him to stay in Chicago. Most of those fans suggested that Antti Raanta be sent to Rockford, however, several fans, especially those who had previously expressed their displeasure with Crawford's goaltending, suggested that the Blackhawks trade Crawford and keep Darling.

Darling had no prior NHL experience when he was recalled due to Crawford's injury. Crawford has a Jennings Trophy, a Stanley Cup and most recently an All Star selection. Additionally, Crawford ranks fifth in franchise wins, second in franchise goals against average and first in franchise save percentage. Suggesting that the Blackhawks trade the 30 year old proven veteran in favor of a 26 year old rookie sounds bizarre by any standards, yet is commonly suggested on social media whenever Crawford loses a game.

Teuvo Teräväinen is one of the most hyped Blackhawks prospects. He was the Blackhawks first round pick in 2012 (23rd overall) and is in his first season in North America after three seasons in Liiga (Finland's top league). When it was announced that he was coming over to North America, some Hawks fans were expecting him to make the Blackhawks, however he was sent to Rockford following training camp to adjust to the North American game. When Patrick Sharp was injured, and later when Jeremy Morin was traded, Joakim Nordström got the call. Now that Kris Versteeg was injured with Nordström already on the Hawks roster, Teräväinen got the call.

The same afternoon and evening Teräväinen's recall was announced #TeuvoTime started trending on Chicago Twitter. Most prospect recalls get barely a mention, this one got a trending hashtag. My fear is that Blackhawks fans will be quick to judge Teräväinen's game. He is a 20 year old in his first North American season, he will not automatically move up a very deep Blackhawks forward corps. It is far too early to judge if he will be a star or a bust, but given draft position and and reaction to his recall, he will be judged by Blackhawks fans in those terms before his stint in Chicago is complete.

Combining Interests: Knitting and Crochet with Hockey

The obvious tie between hockey and knitting and crochet is that hockey sweaters were originally knit wool sweaters, and instead of buying replica sweaters from a store many mothers knitted them for their children. I saw wool sweaters for every Original 6 team and several more Blackhawks ones at the Blackhawks Convention, and they were clearly wool hockey sweaters.

Another less obvious connection is goalies wearing toques. A recent example of a goalie wearing a toque is Jonathan Bernier at the 2014 Winter Classic, wearing a machine knit team toque over his mask. Goalies wearing toques had a much earlier start, out of practicality. Jacques Plante wore hand knitted toques most of his career, starting from when he was a boy playing pond hockey and continuing until he made the NHL. The then Canadiens head coach banned his toques because they were not official uniform. Plante continued to knit throughout the rest of his life even though he was banned from wearing toques during games and practices.

Québec Citadelles team photo Plante in hand knit toque

Remembering Our History

The Hockey Hall of Fame induction combined with Jean Béliveau's death and Gordie Howe's illness got me thinking about remembering our collective history. Earlier this season, I saw a post on Reddit asking who Chris Chelios was. The poster went on to explain that said poster had read about Dean Chelios's signing with the ECHL's Indy Fuel, heard his dad was a former Blackhawk and wanted to know about him.

If self proclaimed diehard fans do not know about 20 years ago's captain, what other holes in their hockey knowledge are there?

I've gone to several autograph signings, at the Blackhawks Convention, at the Chicago Auto Show and at various other locations.

It is always the same story, players with retired numbers (Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Tony Esposito, Pierre Pilote and Denis Savard in my personal experience) draw huge crowds, as do any current players. However, other former players attract almost no one. I have met Jack O'Callahan, Murray Bannerman, Darren Pang, Troy Murray, Eddie Olczyk and Steve Konroyd, among others, with little to no line.

It appears that when new Hawks fans join the fandom, they learn the names of current players and the names of players with banners in the rafters. The 1970s-2000s seem to be the eras of Hawks history with the least fan knowledge.

Hopefully, hockey fans, especially fans of teams like the Hawks and the Kings with rapidly expanding fanbases, will take the time to educate new fans. Regarding the question posed on Reddit, fans were quick to educate the self-proclaimed diehard fan that Chris Chelios was a long serving Blackhawks captain and one of the greatest American-born defensemen.

Pat Foley and Dominik Hašek: Blackhawks in the Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2014

Pat Foley has been the voice of the Blackhawks for over 30 years, starting on WBBM 780 and continuing on whatever radio or television station (currently WGNTV and CSN-Chicago) has carried Blackhawks. When Foley graduated from college, he knew he wanted to go into sports broadcasting but did not have a job--he had worked for his school radio station. As it so happened the Wirtz family got their cars serviced at Foley Buick, owned by Pat's father. One day Michael Wirtz brought his car in for service and when he picked it up he found a tape of Pat's play by play left in the tape deck, he was sufficiently impressed and the Blackhawks hired a young, unknown broadcaster by the name of Pat Foley to do their radio play by play.

Foley quickly became a mainstay behind the Blackhawks mic, one of his earliest signature calls was BAAAANERMAN, which got its start in the 1985 Western Conference Finals between the Blackhawks and the Edmonton Oilers. He was the regular broadcaster until 2006, when Bill Wirtz decided to terminate his contract.

For two seasons, Foley did play by play for the Chicago Wolves, a local AHL team. After Rocky Wirtz became Blackhawks President after his father's passing, he brought back in Pat Foley, to do the television broadcasts alongside former Blackhawk Eddie Olczyk. Since 2008, Pat and Eddie have broadcast Blackhawks games on both WGNTV and CSN-Chicago. Several more signature calls have been added to Foley's repertoire, "Niemi says no" from the 2010 Western Conference Finals and "GREAT SAVE BY CRAWFORD" said on numerous occasions 2010-present are two of the most notable.

Dominik Hašek began his NHL career as a member of the Chicago Blackhawks, including action in the 1992 Stanley Cup Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins. After Hašek drew attention for his play in the Stanley Cup Finals, Ed Belfour, the Blackhawks established starting goalie, felt his minutes were in jeopardy and told Blackhawks management, he goes or I go.

Hašek was traded to the Buffalo Sabres, where he would spend the majority of his career. In 1998, Hašek met fellow Hall of Fame goalie, Canada's Patrick Roy, in the Olympic semifinals. Hašek's Czechs beat Roy's Canadians in a shootout to advance to the gold medal game, where the Czechs would win their only hockey gold to date.

In 1999, Hašek met his former partner, Ed Belfour, who had since gone to the Dallas Stars, in the Stanley Cup Finals. Like with winning the Blackhawks starting job in 1992, Belfour beat Hašek, who saw his Cup hopes crushed in the Finals once again.

Hašek finally won the Stanley Cup as a member of the 2002 and 2008 Detroit Red Wings, alongside former Blackhawks teammate Chris Chelios, who had been traded to the rival Red Wings after a falling out with Blackhawks management. Hašek became the first European-trained starting goalie to win the Stanley Cup and second European starting goalie to win the Stanley Cup (after Blackhawks' 1934 goalie--Charlie Gardiner).

You are not a NHL GM

In 2010, one of the many decisions Stan Bowman made when faced with a cap crunch was to trade goaltender Antti Niemi to San Jose, allowing him to match San Jose's offer sheet on RFA defenseman Niklas Hjalmarsson.

Fans hated that decision, Niemi had just won the Stanley Cup and was a large factor in the Blackhawks sweep of the San Jose Sharks in the Western Conference Final, while Hjalmarsson was young and unproven. Also, the Blackhawks then needed to call up the unproven Corey Crawford from Rockford to take Niemi's roster spot.

Fast forward to 2014, the Sharks are struggling and Alex Stalock might have stolen Niemi's roster spot. Hjalmarsson added a second Stanley Cup in 2013 and an Olympic Silver in 2014 and ranks 30th in franchise points by a defenseman (as of 11/11/14). The unproven Crawford now ranks 5th in franchise wins, behind Tony Esposito, Glenn Hall, Ed Belfour and Jocelyn Thibault. Crawford won the Jennings Trophy and Stanley Cup in 2013, Conn Smythe Winner Patrick Kane said Crawford deserved the award more than he did and Crawford was invited to Team Canada's Olympic training camp (he was cut from the final roster).

If Stan Bowman had done what the fans had wanted in 2010, the Stanley Cup and Jennings Trophy would not have made their way to West Madison in 2013. Hjalmarsson-Oduya would not exist, and therefore Sweden's Olympic Silver would have been far less likely. Crawford would have been sent somewhere else or still be in Rockford and therefore the Blackhawks would not have someone rapidly ascending the franchise wins list.

Stan Bowman clearly knew what he was doing and the armchair GMs were wrong. You are not an NHL GM, you do not know better than them.

A Look at Goaltending Statistics

With Corey Crawford passing Murray Bannerman for 5th all time in Franchise Wins, there has been a lot of talk on where he ranks among goaltending greats. As of 10/16/2014, the Blackhawks leaders in various statistical categories (100+ GP) are as follows:

Wins:
1. Tony Esposito 418
2. Glenn Hall 275
3. Ed Belfour 201
4. Jocelyn Thibault 137
5. Corey Crawford 117
6. Murray Bannerman 116
7. Mike Karakas 114
8. Charlie Gardiner 112

Win Percentage:
1. Corey Crawford 54.7%
2. Ed Belfour 48.4%
3. Tony Esposito 47.9%
4. Denis DeJordy 45.5%
5. Glenn Hall 44.5%
6. Nikolai Khabibulin 44.2%

GAA:
1. Charlie Gardiner 2.02
2. Corey Crawford 2.35
3. Jeff Hackett 2.45
4. Glenn Hall 2.60
5. Jocelyn Thibault 2.63
6. Ed Belfour 2.65

Corey Crawford is a relatively young goalie, only in his 5th season and to be ranked in all statistical categories as one of the leaders is quite an accomplishment. Glenn Hall, Charlie Gardiner and Mike Karakas all won the Stanley Cup as Blackhawks (as did Crawford), Tony Esposito and Ed Belfour lost in the Stanley Cup Finals and Murray Bannerman lost in the Western Conference Finals to the dynasty Edmonton Oilers. I would not be surprised if we eventually see #50 join #1 and #35 in the United Center rafters and/or Corey Crawford join Esposito, Hall, Belfour and Gardiner in the Hockey Hall of Fame.