2018 NHL Free Agency – Note for Cam Ward Deal with the Chicago Blackhawks



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2:01 PM ET

  • Emily Kaplan ESPN

Player: Cam Ward, 34 years old, goalkeeper

The words: a year, 3 million dollars with the Chicago Blackhawks

Where did he register?

Plain and simple: This is an insurance policy for Corey Crawford.

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The 2017-18 Blackhawks collapsed when the season of Crawford is over at the end of December. The details of his injury are at best unclear, and the updates have been equally questionable. For example, prior to last month's draft, coach Joel Quenneville said, "The reports are going well, a lot of guys are training in Chicago and we're expecting it soon, I think that's a good thing. he'll be fine at the camp. Quenneville also added that Crawford had not been on the ice yet

An encouraging sign is that the Blackhawks have announced that Crawford will attend their annual fans' convention at the end of July, which should mark the first time times the winner of the Cup the media in months. Nevertheless, there is still enough uncertainty for the Blackhawks to bring a reliable safeguard

Does this case make sense?

Fetching a known commodity in Ward makes sense for the Blackhawks who were burned by the restless trio of Anton Forsberg, Jean-Francois Berube and Jeff Glbad this season. Forsberg still has time to become a reliable starter, but the 25-year-old player – acquired as part of the craft that sent Artemi Panarin to Columbus – clearly needs to be seasoned and put into action too early. He is fortunate to have a regular action in the American League, or could have action behind Ward if Crawford stays out.

Berube tends to become a companion. After a difficult start with the Islanders, he found himself dumped after last season (he was traded to the Blue Jackets). The glbad was a story of well-being – having worked in KHL for most of the decade, he finally got a stroke of redemption – but turned out to be nothing more than that. And of course, you can not turn to a beer league accountant … even though the Blackhawks have tried, eh?

Ward seems to have always existed, and although Carolina is ready to move on, he is still a repairable starter who can win you some games. Although at first glance, his statistics are correct (while sharing time with Scott Darling last season, he was 23-14-4 with a .906 save percentage). The closer look is not as encouraging (percentage of stops from 91.79 versus 5 ranked at 36th in the league.)

Overall rating: B

All the Blackhawks need Right now is a space reserved in case Crawford would not be ready to come back.It's exactly what Ward is.The hat trick works because the Blackhawks have self-eliminated from all the big derbies of 39 Free agent (like James van Riemsdyk) The best part is the term: one year Chicago does not need to worry about being paralyzed by a long contract. nor the development of Forsberg.

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