[News] Crawford extended 6 yrs, $6M AAV

[PlayfulGenius]

Originally Posted by Cali Flames Fan

I would have said $5 million, but hey, whatever. You would think that for the long term deal they would have gotten a better cap hit. I'm still not convinced he's a top 10 starter in the NHL.

I'm convinced he is NOT a Top 10 starter in the NHL... (the following are not in a prioritized sequence)

Lundqvist
Rinne
Rask
Schneider
Luongo
Quick
Lehtonen
Niemi
Smith
Ward
Price
Anderson
Bobrovsky

I added a few beyond 10 just in case a couple are only on par with Crawford.

[Hockey_Ninja]

Originally Posted by New Era

This will soon be recognized as one of the worst contracts in the NHL. Possibly in NHL history. Horrible contract for a mediocre goaltender.

It's gonna be hard to top Gomez's old contract.

[Huntingwhale]

If he can have another succesful season, I don't see how it's bad. The guy could have easily won the Conn Smyth over Kane. But as someone else said, they let Niemi walk and he ends up becoming a Vezina finalist. I don't think they want that to happen again.

[Dion]

What did we have a lockout for?

Owners doing it to themselves again.

[strombad]

Originally Posted by PlayfulGenius

I'm convinced he is NOT a Top 10 starter in the NHL... (the following are not in a prioritized sequence)

Lundqvist
Rinne
Rask
Schneider
Luongo
Quick
Lehtonen
Niemi
Smith
Ward
Price
Anderson
Bobrovsky

I added a few beyond 10 just in case a couple are only on par with Crawford.

You're either under rating Crawford here, or overrating some of these goons.
He's certainly on par with Schneider, Ward, Anderson, and Lehtonen. Plus you threw Bobrovsky in there, guy has had 1 good HALF season.
You must be playin'

[4X4]

The important thing is that Cory Crawford's brother is named Trevor.

[PlayfulGenius]

Originally Posted by strombad

You're either under rating Crawford here, or overrating some of these goons.
He's certainly on par with Schneider, Ward, Anderson, and Lehtonen. Plus you threw Bobrovsky in there, guy has had 1 good HALF season.
You must be playin'

nope.. I certainly don't agree he's as good as Schneider.. I find him on par with goalies like Howard... ya, Lehtonen, I think... Anderson is better, for sure... Ward, I guess you could say, that's why I listed more than 10.

Regardless of how some of those guys are ranked, I don't see Crawford as anything more than an average NHL starter... he's in that group of 10-17 somewhere, depending on who's hot at any given time... I guess it could be argued he's above average if you fee he's closer to 10 than 17, which I would probably agree with also.

I like the guy, but he's simply NOT an exceptional goaltender by NHL standards.

[strombad]

Originally Posted by PlayfulGenius

nope.. I certainly don't agree he's as good as Schneider.. I find him on par with goalies like Howard... ya, Lehtonen, I think... Anderson is better, for sure... Ward, I guess you could say, that's why I listed more than 10.

Regardless of how some of those guys are ranked, I don't see Crawford as anything more than an average NHL starter... he's in that group of 10-17 somewhere, depending on who's hot at any given time... I guess it could be argued he's above average if you fee he's closer to 10 than 17, which I would probably agree with also.

I like the guy, but he's simply NOT an exceptional goaltender by NHL standards.

Absolutely, there's no way the guy is exceptional by any means. I think he's a good goalie that has about the same number of great nights as he does total bombs.

I definitely lump him into the Lehtonen/Ward kind of crowd which seems to be full of goalies that have flashes of brilliance but aren't next level guys.

Schneider, I don't know. I've seen too many bombs in his short career thus far to call him a difference maker, but I'm sure this upcoming season in Jersey is either going to prove he's at the next level, or if he's just an average goalie who had a few exceptional games.

[GirlySports]

Originally Posted by Dion

What did we have a lockout for?

Owners doing it to themselves again.

The owners always win. They can have as many lockouts as they want.

We always come back don't we?

[powderjunkie]

IMO based roughly on last year... ^ means they have the potential or project to move up a tier... \/ means they may have overachieved last year and are likely to move down a tier. I think Crawford sits right in the middle of the third tier of goalies...

Lundqvist
Quick
Rinne
-----
Rask
Price
Niemi
Bobrovsky ^ or \/
Anderson \/
-----
Luongo^
Schneider^
Brodeur
Halak
Elliott
Lehtonen
Ward
Crawford
Howard
Smith
Hiller
Holtby ^
Reimer
Backstrom
Miller ^ or \/
Fasth \/
Emery \/
Bernier ^ ?
Nabokov
Vokoun

-----
Pavelec
Varlamov
Dubnyk
Markstrom
Bishop ^
Fleury
Mason

----
Ramo/Bera/Macdonald Hopefully ^

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by PlayfulGenius

I'm convinced he is NOT a Top 10 starter in the NHL... (the following are not in a prioritized sequence)

Lundqvist
Rinne
Rask
Schneider
Luongo
Quick
Lehtonen
Niemi
Smith
Ward
Price
Anderson
Bobrovsky

I added a few beyond 10 just in case a couple are only on par with Crawford.

As someone else said he is no worse than Schneider, Bobrovsky, Ward or Smith. I am not a fan of the money he got, or term, but he does have a case for being the 10th best in the NHL. I would say at worst 13th best.

Maybe just me, but reading some of these posts and i think posters have been spoiled by having Kipper for so many years. A top 10-13 goalie is actually pretty hard to get and have on your team. I am pretty sure that CP fans are going to realise how much better a 10-13th rank goalie is in the next couple of seasons.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by kyuss275

I would say at worst 13th best.

The 13th best starter is basically just an average starter... I mean in a 30 team league where each team has a presumptive starting goalie the 15th best starter is just league average (and thirteen ain't that much better then fifteen).

Now, I'd argue that last season Crawford was probably a borderline top 5 goalie but that was last season (lockout shortened). His NHL career numbers to date don't justify this kind of outlay. I think he basically has to have his performance last year hold up over a full season (for the next 6 straight seasons). That strikes me as a bad bet on the 'Hawks part.

[thefoss1957]

The amount is in line with other starting goalies around the league. The length is a little longer than many 'Hawk fans would want. The gambles are...pad changes...Cap changes.

The feeling is that Hjammer will not get another contract with the 'Hawks, and Sharp is also gone unless the cap goes up to $70 million or so. The expectation is also that Hossa will get dealt to a cap floor team, down the line.

In toto, this deal won't effect the 'Hawks much for the next two seasons, but might become an issue when is time to re-up Toews and Kane.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by Dion

What did we have a lockout for?

Owners doing it to themselves again.

They got 50%, pre-lockout he would have got $7.5m because the cap would allow it.

[PlayfulGenius]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

IMO based roughly on last year... ^ means they have the potential or project to move up a tier... \/ means they may have overachieved last year and are likely to move down a tier. I think Crawford sits right in the middle of the third tier of goalies...

Lundqvist
Quick
Rinne
-----
Rask
Price
Niemi
Bobrovsky ^ or \/
Anderson \/
-----
Luongo^
Schneider^
Brodeur
Halak
Elliott
Lehtonen
Ward
Crawford
Howard
Smith
Hiller
Holtby ^
Reimer
Backstrom
Miller ^ or \/
Fasth \/
Emery \/
Bernier ^ ?
Nabokov
Vokoun

-----
Pavelec
Varlamov
Dubnyk
Markstrom
Bishop ^
Fleury
Mason

----
Ramo/Bera/Macdonald Hopefully ^

I think Jacob Markstrom is heading up the rankings starting this season.

He won't get much acclaim due to FLA being horrible, but he'll play well and start to establish himself as a legit #1

[puckluck2]

$3 million too much and 3 years too long.

$36 million guaranteed for Corey Crawford is crayon licking stupid.

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

$3 million too much and 3 years too long.

$36 million guaranteed for Corey Crawford is crayon licking stupid.

I wouldn't say $3M too much. Not relative to the market anyways (Personally I think the market for goalies is screwy though). Looking at the money that goalies get...

http://www.capgeek.com/leaders/?seas...ion=G&limit=50

... if the extension kicked in this year he'd be the 7th highest paid goalie in the NHL. If you assess his true talent level as being roughly average (say 12th-17th best starter) then his salary level ought to be 4M to 5M split the differance and call it 4.5M. I'd say that he's probably overpaid by 1.5M. Considering that Crawford wasn't even a free agent, he got money, and he got term the only way I see this being a good deal for the hawks is if Corey Crawfords true talent is "Best Goaltender in the World".

Personally I think GM's overpay for goalies by a wide margin. There are only 60 NHL jobs available for goalies, only 30 of any consequence (Starters), and at any time there are very few of those jobs available. The leverage should be incredably lopsided but GM's fret themselves into paying more then they should.

[powderjunkie]

It will be interesting to see what Lundqvist fetches next year. 8 x 7.5M? 4 x 9M?

Ryan Miller's number will also be interesting...important season for him this year.

[Saqe]

What amazes me is that when they won their first cup in the Kane/Toews era with Niemi they chose to let him walk, instead of signing him for 3 million/year. And Niemi was a better goalie already then that Crawford was last season. This deal just doesn´t make any sense in any perspective.

[thefoss1957]

Originally Posted by Saqe

What amazes me is that when they won their first cup in the Kane/Toews era with Niemi they chose to let him walk, instead of signing him for 3 million/year. And Niemi was a better goalie already then that Crawford was last season. This deal just doesn´t make any sense in any perspective.

It was a matter of timing...both Niemi and Hjarlmasson had gotten offer sheets, it was clear that the 'Hawks could only match one of the two...they apparently decided that the drop-off from Hjammer, to whomever they would have to replace him with was higher than the drop-off from Niemi to other affordable goaltenders, at that time.

I thought then, that the D-man was the correct choice. (although all would have been moot, if Tallon had checked the correct boxes when submitting contracts to the league on some other players!). Hjammer, has been the best Stay at Home D man on the squad, and gets the matchup with opponent top lines. Keith and Seabrook get press, Hjammer and his Partners do the heavy Defensive Lifting, and the goaltender in the system gets the benefit.