Confirmed with Link: Crawford signs with Devils

[Oneiro]

I don't know what more Fitz can do to eliminate uncertainty at goal. All you have is evidence and right now it's saying we have one of the better 1-2 combos in the league, regardless of the order.

 

[Billdo]

Yeah actually, I think I might be. See my post at the end of the previous page.

At you least you recognized this, far too many posters sit here and dig their feet in the ground taking stupid stances.

 

[ninetyeight]

I would have rather have Fleury +free picks too, but that's not how this works. Fitz can't just do what he wants, the other teams are looking to take advantage of each other (incl the devils) just as much.

It's easy to just type here what Fitz should or shouldn't do without any consideration what the other teams are trying to do. Maybe he asked about MAF, and they told him you get an extra 4th rounder at best, or that someone else is willing to take the contract for less

 

[Offseason Champs]

I also thought Crawford was washed up because I haven't really been following his career, I just looked at his age and the Blackhawks' middling success and I'm like yeah that makes sense. Looking at the numbers and stuff that have been coming out since I'm glad to see that I was totally wrong. I mean it's still possible to fall off a cliff his first year here but there's no reason not to be optimistic about a short term deal for a legitimate NHL goaltender who has won cups and can help establish a good veteran culture in the locker room with all these babies we're gonna be trotting out next year. So far I'm pretty happy about the Fitz era. Let's see what happens next

 

[JK3]

Cool this is just what we needed! Sure it would have been nice to pick up some assets around MAF but we don't know what's going on there yet. This fills a big hole in our team at the moment.

 

[Monsieur Verdoux]

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

there were 7 goalies who had a .915 SV% or better that played 40 or more games last year

Devils now have 2 of them on their team

 

[Edmonton East]

Going to be a lot of backpedaling in this thread once the actual season starts. Not worth arguing with a bunch of stat watchers until then.

Absurdly high team shots against historically skews SV% upward btw.

Hawks with Lehner in net for 33GP: 92 point season pace
Hawks with Crawford in net for 40GP: 72 point season pace

Crawford is nearly 36 and looked absurdly slow and 100% washed this postseason. The most recent hockey for an over the hill goalie does matter. Especially when he looked out of position routinely and, again, slow as molasses.

I don't want responses from a single person unless they go watch the Hawks playoffs games. Guy is fortunate he didn't average 5 goals against per game. Flailing around with no idea where the puck is all the time. You all better hope he was sick or just had trouble getting back into the season after restart, because he didn't look like an NHL goalie.

 

[Ol Dirty Bstrd]

Going to be a lot of backpedaling in this thread once the actual season starts. Not worth arguing with a bunch of stat watchers until then.

Absurdly high team shots against historically skews SV% upward btw.

Hawks with Lehner in net for 33GP: 92 point season pace
Hawks with Crawford in net for 40GP: 72 point season pace

Crawford is nearly 36 and looked absurdly slow and 100% washed this postseason. The most recent hockey for an over the hill goalie does matter. Especially when he looked out of position routinely and, again, slow as molasses.

I don't want responses from a single person unless they go watch the Hawks playoffs games. Guy is fortunate he didn't average 5 goals against per game. Flailing around with no idea where the puck is all the time. You all better hope he was sick or just had trouble getting back into the season after restart, because he didn't look like an NHL goalie.

Sample size? He’s an older goalie coming off an unprecedented layoff. Not surprising he wasn’t in mid season form. I guess the Pens should ditch Crosby and Malkin too.

By the way, I agree some people are overrating him a tad and there is obviously risk with Father Time catching up

 

[Mr Bojanglez]

i'm fine with this. He'll serve his purpose. He had some really good games last year for the Hawks - kept them in a bunch. had some clunkers too. But hey - he's not signed to be our #1 starting goalie.

 

[Triumph]

Going to be a lot of backpedaling in this thread once the actual season starts. Not worth arguing with a bunch of stat watchers until then.

Absurdly high team shots against historically skews SV% upward btw.

Hawks with Lehner in net for 33GP: 92 point season pace
Hawks with Crawford in net for 40GP: 72 point season pace

Wow, so Lehner was better than Crawford, and the Hawks didn't score as much with Crawford in net. Cool, great point.

The Hawks do overcount shots and NJ undercounts so Crawford will take a -.005 hit on SV% from that. People should be aware.

Crawford is nearly 36 and looked absurdly slow and 100% washed this postseason. The most recent hockey for an over the hill goalie does matter. Especially when he looked out of position routinely and, again, slow as molasses.

I don't want responses from a single person unless they go watch the Hawks playoffs games. Guy is fortunate he didn't average 5 goals against per game. Flailing around with no idea where the puck is all the time. You all better hope he was sick or just had trouble getting back into the season after restart, because he didn't look like an NHL goalie.

He had some tough games. Goalies will have tough games. That does not mean they are finished. And he's not signed to be the starter - if he struggles, Blackwood can take more of the starts.

 

[Better Call Sal]

Going to be a lot of backpedaling in this thread once the actual season starts. Not worth arguing with a bunch of stat watchers until then.

Absurdly high team shots against historically skews SV% upward btw.

Hawks with Lehner in net for 33GP: 92 point season pace
Hawks with Crawford in net for 40GP: 72 point season pace

Crawford is nearly 36 and looked absurdly slow and 100% washed this postseason. The most recent hockey for an over the hill goalie does matter. Especially when he looked out of position routinely and, again, slow as molasses.

I don't want responses from a single person unless they go watch the Hawks playoffs games. Guy is fortunate he didn't average 5 goals against per game. Flailing around with no idea where the puck is all the time. You all better hope he was sick or just had trouble getting back into the season after restart, because he didn't look like an NHL goalie.

Well, here's to hoping you're wrong!

 

[NJDevs26]

Going to be a lot of backpedaling in this thread once the actual season starts. Not worth arguing with a bunch of stat watchers until then.

Absurdly high team shots against historically skews SV% upward btw.

Hawks with Lehner in net for 33GP: 92 point season pace
Hawks with Crawford in net for 40GP: 72 point season pace

I feel like I'm reading a Marty-Cory post circa 2014. I don't see how point pace is relevant considering they had practically equal save percentages on the same team with the same shotcounters and Lehner's GAA was higher (3.01 to 2.77). All that tells me is they scored more goals for Lehner.

There is a case to be made for Crawford falling off or his save percentage being artificially high but what else were they supposed to do? Sign a mediocre everyday starter for $6 million a year and demote Blackwood? Roll with Cory again? Roll with Gilles Senn? Fleury was never a realistic option in terms of him waiving his NTC to come here.

This was probably the best of the realistic options. You could argue for Greiss over Crawford strictly on talent perhaps, but I think they brought him in as much as anything because he's been a part of a winning culture and can help mentor Blackwood.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Going to be a lot of backpedaling in this thread once the actual season starts. Not worth arguing with a bunch of stat watchers until then.

Absurdly high team shots against historically skews SV% upward btw.

Hawks with Lehner in net for 33GP: 92 point season pace
Hawks with Crawford in net for 40GP: 72 point season pace

Crawford is nearly 36 and looked absurdly slow and 100% washed this postseason. The most recent hockey for an over the hill goalie does matter. Especially when he looked out of position routinely and, again, slow as molasses.

I don't want responses from a single person unless they go watch the Hawks playoffs games. Guy is fortunate he didn't average 5 goals against per game. Flailing around with no idea where the puck is all the time. You all better hope he was sick or just had trouble getting back into the season after restart, because he didn't look like an NHL goalie.

Some people will really do whatever they can do to just be negative about literally every single thing the team does. It is so amusing to me.

basing your opinion on a player on a 7-8 game sample size (in which he actually had a .907, which is ASTRONOMICALLY BETTER than our backup goalies last year) is so damn foolish

 

[JimEIV]

I don't really care about the details of these aquistions. I'm much more interested in learning the mindset and vision of Fitzgerald. Let's face it, Murray and Crawford are short term solutions...but these moves give some indication of what Fitzgerald sees as the most pressing issues and what his ideas are to address them. Those players will be long gone in 5 years but Fitzgerald's decisions will have a lingering effect for a long time...so this is what I'm interested in the most.

Obviously still a lot for us see from Fitzgerald before any of us can make a comment...but his opening is familiar and well received...at least by me.

 

[mtnet]

there were 7 goalies who had a .915 SV% or better that played 40 or more games last year

Devils now have 2 of them on their team

This is what's up ^^^^^

Crawford's in the twilight of his career and even our middling club chased him out of net multiple times in recent years, but every netminder craps the bed here and there. Our developing kids need someone that can either start or be our backup without games feeling like an automatic loss. We had far too many auto-losses in net in recent years and it was the right time to move on and seek alternative options.

Crawford isn't going to catapult the team into a better place on his own but he can be a great mentor to MBW for 1-2 years (until Crow gets exposed in expansion) and hopefully deliver competent goaltending while he's here. If VGK wasn't willing to part with anything of value then MAF was not in the cards, and Crawford was pretty much the best of the rest after the UFA goalie signings yesterday.

The biggest concern is whether he takes any big hits to the noggin but otherwise the guy has proven he can still play when healthy.

 

[ScottyK]

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

Going to be a lot of backpedaling in this thread once the actual season starts. Not worth arguing with a bunch of stat watchers until then.

Absurdly high team shots against historically skews SV% upward btw.

Hawks with Lehner in net for 33GP: 92 point season pace
Hawks with Crawford in net for 40GP: 72 point season pace

Crawford is nearly 36 and looked absurdly slow and 100% washed this postseason. The most recent hockey for an over the hill goalie does matter. Especially when he looked out of position routinely and, again, slow as molasses.

I don't want responses from a single person unless they go watch the Hawks playoffs games. Guy is fortunate he didn't average 5 goals against per game. Flailing around with no idea where the puck is all the time. You all better hope he was sick or just had trouble getting back into the season after restart, because he didn't look like an NHL goalie.

If he’s literally anywhere close to average for 25-30 games I will be satisfied. That is enough. He will likely continue to be a solidly above average goalie as he has been for the majority of his career including last season.

 

[JelloPuddyPops]

Thinking about this, I know Schneider was cooked, but I don't think Crawford is far off. He is pretty terrible too. I may have rather just held on to Schneider for two years. I guess we save actual cash, which is likely the biggest concern going into the next season or two.

Crawford’s numbers the last two years are so much better than any non-Blackwood Devils goalie, it’s absurd.

 

[VoidCreature]

I don't want responses from a single person unless they go watch the Hawks playoffs games. Guy is fortunate he didn't average 5 goals against per game. Flailing around with no idea where the puck is all the time. You all better hope he was sick or just had trouble getting back into the season after restart, because he didn't look like an NHL goalie.

He had Covid-19 shortly before the play-in and was symptomatic. Fair to say he was still recovering.

 

[SteveCangialosi123]

He had Covid-19 shortly before the play-in and was symptomatic. Fair to say he was still recovering.

Wow, I wasn’t aware of that. You’d think someone claiming to know better than everyone else on the board would’ve mentioned that.

 

[BxDevilsFan]

Crawford is solid addition. I too would've loved Fleury & picks/prospects but we're living in COVID-19 world & it's not that easy.

 

[beekay414]

I projected him at 1 year/$5 Million so I'm happy with 2/$3.9 Million. He was the best goalie not named Khubodin on the market so this is a HR for sure. 45-50 games for MBW and 30-35 games for Crawford. Just by adding Crawford, we're going to improve our record. We're going to be a feisty, competitive team under Ruff, man. May not result directly in wins and losses right away but Murray and Crawford are a huge step in the right direction.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

Is the plan to start Crow or Blackwood? I guess NJ might envision a 1a/1b scenario with Blackwood taking over the reigns when Crawford retires? I’m curious how much Crawford has left in the tank, I was surprised with how effective he was last season.

I would think Crawford would be the "starter" (at first) but it will be heavy 1a/1b. We shall see.

 

[PKs Broken Stick]

Crow does have recent injury history, and he was slow to return from a concussion a couple of years ago. Be mindful of that. Corey needs to be 1B goalie not 1A.

Yup, that's what I'd do, but Idk what Ruff will do. No idea what his tendencies are.