We’ve seen this before, and it’s never fun.
For the past few days, the New Jersey Devils have been without newly acquired goaltender, and former Chicago Blackhawk, Corey Crawford. According to multiple reports, Crawford had missed the past five practices with New Jersey, citing “personal reasons” for the absence.
Now today, it appears Crawford will not be rejoining the Devils anytime soon.
#NEWS: We have released a statement regarding Corey Crawford: pic.twitter.com/2g6HSVh3kW
— New Jersey Devils (@NJDevils) January 8, 2021
Crawford was participating in the first two days of Devils camp on December 31 and January 1, but has been out since. The former two-time Stanley Cup Champion is not a stranger to cloudy absences, having missed significant portions of seasons over his years with the Blackhawks. Whether they were due to injury and to personal reasons, though, Crawford always returned to the ice and put his best self forward.
The 36-year-old Crawford had just joined the Devils on a two-year, $3.9M AAV contract after being let go by the Blackhawks this past offseason. Crawford is the only goaltender in Blackhawks franchise history to win multiple Stanley Cups, and ranks third among franchise goalies in wins (260), games played (488), and has the highest save-percentage (.918) among goalies to play 100 or more games with Chicago. Obviously, we hope all is well and to see him back out on the ice soon, Blackhawks or not.