The 2007-08 season was a milestone year for the Pittsburgh Penguins organization. In his first year as captain, Sidney Crosby led the team to the Stanley Cup final where they were ultimately defeated by the Detroit Red Wings. A disappointing end to an exciting campaign. Belief within the team and fan-base was that the squad was only going to get better the following year, motivated by their brush with glory. The team finally had a pair of heroes akin to the caliber of Lemieux and Jagr and a good squad around them. Furthermore, they finally had a man between the pipes who seemed capable of making this team a modern day dynasty.
After a couple of years of disappointment between the pipes Marc-Andre Fleury had shown the talent that the Penguins observed when they drafted him first overall in 2003. A season cut short by injury had not affected his playoff performance, where Fleury took full control of a starting job which he would never relinquish. All of this proved to the organisation that they had got their guy, and they compensated him accordingly. The Penguins invested $35 million over 7 years into what they thought would be 7 years of elite goaltending. They were mistaken.
The situation is eerily similar to the extension signed today by Chicago Blackhawk’s goaltender Corey Crawford. The terms of the contract were announced as $36 million dollars for 6 years, a cap hit of $6 million per season. Crawford has one year remaining on his former contract which pays him $2.5 million per season. It is a very risky bit of business for a Blackhawks team who, like the 2007-08 Penguins, have fresh in their minds a great performance en route to the Stanley Cup finals and for the Hawks a Cup. Not to mention the fact that it wasn’t even a full NHL season.
Now, before this is explored in depth there are many positive qualities about Crawford which help warrant this massive extension. While Patrick Kane was given the honours it was Crawford who was the Blackhawk’s playoff MVP, a notion recognized by almost everyone on the team. During those playoffs and the regular season he showed many good tendencies: he was clutch when they needed him, and the way he bounced back from poor outings consistently was impressive. Yes, he has a stellar team and defense in front of him, but Crawford was still required to be good enough for them to win on most nights. His winning touch has earned him consideration for Team Canada, a team he should make in some capacity.
But recent success can make one forget the past, as seems to be the case with Crawford. Prior to the 2013 season Crawford did not have particularly impressive numbers, comparable to a young Fleury although inflated due to the fact that the Penguins were so awful in his first couple of years. Furthermore, while his playoff ability this season was present it is more the exception than the norm. In his first two seasons as a starter Crawford, behind a team with Stanley Cup pedigree and aspirations, flopped in the post-season. Sure it was a learning curve, but the stark contrast made this year’s performance so surprising.
Furthermore, while long-term contracts are a big discussion in general among hockey circles it is expensive long-term goalie contracts that truly stimulate the discussion. For the most part these contracts have always proven to be negative, and left the team in question with their hands tied. The first long-term goalie contract was that of Rick DiPietro, a 15-year deal widely regarded as the worst contract signed in NHL history. The biggest news maker recently was the Luongo contract, which ended up being unmovable for the Canucks who were forced to deal Corey Schneider on the cheap. Moreover, Ilya Bryzgalov ended up costing Flyers management big time when they had to expend a compliance buyout on his long-term deal. The list continues.
It seems that once goalies sign these long-term deals they start to fall off, as often, like Crawford, they are only essentially based on one season of elite goaltending. He has shown many weaknesses in the past that could end up contributing to this undoing. The exploitation of his glove hand during the Stanley Cup finals was concerning. It doesn’t help that the Hawks are already pressed against the salary cap ceiling, a fact that saw them once again shed talent this off-season. The Hawks have very few free agents this summer and have to extend both Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews after 2014-15. The salary cap will increase, but likely not enough to omit the Hawks from some incredibly difficult contract decisions.
The bridge contract is a popular term nowadays, especially with the Nazem Kadri negotiations in full swing, and should have been enacted in this case. One could argue that Crawford’s last deal, which he has one year remaining on, could be considered a bridge deal. But, despite the fact that negotiations would have taken longer, the Hawks should have tried to get a short term 2-year deal at roughly 4-5 million per year. That was they could insure that he truly is an elite NHL goaltender while avoiding a 1 year extension which would have required them to extend Crawford, Kane and Toews in the same summer. Instead they are now locked in, and options for getting out of this deal should things go south are minimal.
That being said, Crawford could absolutely turn out to be one of the best in the NHL and warrant this contract. The team in front of him looks prepared to be in contention for at least another couple of years and a third modern cup championship with Crawford in net would instantly make the contract worthwhile. However, with expensive long-term contracts, especially concerning goaltenders, the risk is large. The Blackhawks didn’t need to take this risk.
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