Mark Lazerus of The Athletic: The soon-to-be 35-year old Corey Crawford is a pending unrestricted free agent. He has battled some injuries the past couple of seasons.
Robin Lehner, the Chicago Blackhawks other goaltender, is also a pending UFA but is seven years younger.
With some new contracts kicking in next season, and a few RFAs that need re-signing, you’d think both wouldn’t be back, but GM Stan Bowman isn’t ruling out the idea.
“You know, it’s a good question,” Bowman told The Athletic. “But, sure, they could both be back. Certainly. If they want to help us with the math, then yeah. We haven’t had those conversations yet, but there’s no reason that they couldn’t stay as a tandem. But until you start having those discussions about salaries, I don’t know if that’s possible, right? There are a lot of variables in that. I’m not ruling anything out at this point, but also, we haven’t chosen our path forward.”
Crawford has already said he’d like to come back.
GM Bowman said they aren’t in a rush to start contract negotiations with either Crawford or Lehner.
Mark Lazerus of The Athletic: From an interview with Chicago Blackhawks GM Stan Bowman last week. On if Brent Seabrook’s scratching could cause some chemistry issues in the dressing room if he becomes ‘grumpy.’
“Yeah, but that’s not been my experience with Brent. I think people who think that don’t know him very well. He wants to play, no question about it. Hockey players believe that they should play every night and that’s part of what you love about them. That’s not been an issue to date. If it does become one, then we’ll have to address it, but that hasn’t been an issue yet.”