Crawford ruled 'unfit to play' by Blackhawks

CHICAGO -- Corey Crawford was ruled "unfit to play" and is not practicing with the Chicago Blackhawks at training camp.

Crawford, who has missed three practices, also did not take part in any of Chicago's voluntary workouts that started June 8, but he is one of the five goalies on its training camp roster.

The 35-year-old, who had been healthy after missing 80 games over the past two seasons because of concussions, was 16-20-3 with a 2.77 goals-against average this season, and among goalies to play at least 40 games, he was tied for fifth in the NHL with a .917 save percentage.

Coach Jeremy Colliton said on Friday it's too soon to know if Crawford will be able to return this season.

"We don't know. For now, that's how we're describing it as unfit to participate," Colliton said on WGN Radio. "We'll see. There's still time."

Crawford split time for the majority of the season with Robin Lehner, but after the latter was traded to the Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 24, he started Chicago's final eight games before the NHL season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus and was 5-3-0 with a 2.65 GAA and .921 save percentage.

"The way we're handling this, we're looking at the guys who are here and ready to play, and when Corey's in that group, then we can talk about Corey," Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said Monday. "The focus today was to get ourselves back going. We have four goaltenders here (Malcolm Subban, Collin Delia, Kevin Lankinen, Matt Tomkins), and the goal is to be prepared when the time is right. We have some time, certainly. Our first game isn't for several weeks."

The Blackhawks, who were 32-30-8 (.514 points percentage), enter the Stanley Cup Qualifiers as the No. 12 seed in the Western Conference. They will play the No. 5 seed, the Edmonton Oilers (37-25-9, .585), in one of eight best-of-5 series that will begin at Rogers Place in Edmonton on Aug. 1. Edmonton is the hub city for the 12 Western teams.

Colliton said Subban, who was acquired in the Lehner trade, Delia and Lankinen will rotate while Crawford is out.

Of those three, Subban has the most NHL experience. He is 30-23-7 with a 2.97 GAA and .899 save percentage in 66 games (60 starts) with the Boston Bruins, Golden Knights and Blackhawks, including 9-7-3 with a 3.17 GAA and .890 save percentage this season.

Delia is 7-5-3 with a 3.65 GAA and .906 save percentage in 18 NHL games (16 starts), all with the Blackhawks. Lankinen, who was Delia's backup for Rockford of the American Hockey League this season, has never played an NHL game.

Asked what happens if Crawford, who won the Cup with the Blackhawks in 2013 and 2015, is unable to play, Colliton said, "We told [the three rotating goalies] it's going to be based on how they perform and they're all going to be given equal opportunity. We have Matt Tomkins here as well. He's done a good job at AHL and ECHL levels, so it's an opportunity for him to compete as well. At the end we'll have to make a decision, but we want those to make it as difficult as possible.

"The opportunity now is for those other guys to compete. It's a great opportunity for us to evaluate them. We expect a lot of competition and we have confidence in all three of those guys."