Blackhawks have time to work out their goaltending situation for next season
Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times: The Chicago Blackhawks have plenty of time to figure out their goaltending situation for next season. They will have a “proven NHL goalie signed for next year” according to GM Stan Bowman.
“I wouldn’t say we’ve mapped out who it’s going to be,” Bowman said Tuesday. “We have a lot of candidates, and we’ve got to make that choice between now and next season.”
“We have Kevin Lankinen, Collin Delia, Subban and Crawford, he’s not signed. But obviously Delia, Lankinen and Subban, their rights are controlled by the Blackhawks, so we decide what we want to do with them. But we just got Malcolm, so we’re going to have to sort through that and look at the options.”
Crawford and Subban will likely ride out the season as their No. 1 and 2. Depending on his play, the Blackhawks may not even qualify him.
The Devils have begun GM interviews
Sportsnet: New Jersey Devils interim GM Tom Fitzgerald ran their trade deadline and received praise for the job he did. That doesn’t mean he’s a lock for the full-time position. The Devils upper management have started the interview process already.
“Tom Fitzgerald was widely praised for the job he did and one of the things I wondered was would the Devils just elevate him to the permanent GM status because his work was praised? I’m told the answer to that question is no,” Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported on Hockey Night in Canada’s Headlines segment Saturday. “They will continue with the search as they initially indicated. Fitzgerald is obviously a very serious candidate but they’re going to open it up elsewhere.
“One of the first people they have spoken to is the former general manager of the Vancouver Canucks, Mike Gillis. They can interview Gillis because he’s not tethered to any team at this particular point in time. The search is going to continue after the season with any candidates who currently are with teams, but Gillis is, as far as I know, the first external candidate to be interviewed.”