Oh man. It hurt my heart to write that title. I knew the time was coming eventually, but I didn’t think it was coming this soon. I certainly wasn’t prepared for it. But, here we are. 

Saturday morning, Corey Crawford announced his retirement from the NHL with a statement on Twitter.

That was followed by a statement from the Blackhawks:

On Friday, it was announced that he was taking a leave of absence from the New Jersey Devils for personal reasons. It was surprising to see the retirement announcement coming the day immediately following that, but it was better than having to wait for any additional news. 

With the Blackhawks roster looking completely different, the uncertainty over start dates, and no idea whether the Hawks are actually rebuilding or not - this shaping up to be a weird one.

Then . . .

Crawford signed a 2-year $3.9mil AAV deal with the Devils over the summer after the Blackhawks announced they wouldn’t be re-signing him as an unrestricted free agent. 

That was the first piece of news I had to process. 

So, I had to answer a big question - do I take on another team and root for the New Jersey Devils? The question was big, but the answer was easy - OF COURSE I WOULD. I wasn’t happy about it, but I couldn’t bring myself to root against my favorite player. 

Seeing him suit up for New Jersey’s training camp was extremely weird. It was going to be even more confusing for my brain to see him in a regular Jersey jersey (ha! I know, very creative). I would prefer that to not watching him play at all, but that decision isn’t up to me. 

Crawford had to do what was best for him. After going through, at least, 2 horrible concussions, contracting and recovering from COVID, and the amount of miles he had already put on his body - he decided that leaving the game was best for him and his family. You have to respect that. He has a wife and two young sons at home. There comes a point when hanging up the skates just makes the most sense. For Corey, that was this season. 

That was the last big piece of news that I had to process. And “big” doesn’t quite touch it. I fully understand and respect his decision, of course. But, I am sad we won’t get to see him out on the ice anymore. 

Corey Crawford has been my favorite hockey player for 10 years now. I have spent the last decade, basically the entirety of my hockey fandom, knowing Crawford as my goaltender. The Blackhawks have had really great #2 goalies come and go throughout the years, but the games that Crawford played were my favorite to watch. Something about watching him in net just made me happy. 

Everyone has their thing. 

In a very condensed version of my story - he was somehow the goaltender in net for the first Blackhawks game I watched in the 09-10 season. Once he came up to battle for the net with Marty Turco in 2010-11, he quickly became my favorite player (which I didn’t think would happen because I was a fan of Niemi). The rest, as they say, is history. I wish him all the best in his retirement. I hope he is happy, healthy, and enjoys some time off with his family. 

It’s been an absolute joy watching Corey Crawford play hockey for the last 10 years. There have been some great years. There have been some . . . not so great years. At the end of the day, he walks away from the game as a 2-time Stanley Cup Champion, a 2-time Jennings Trophy winner. He’s 3rd all-time in regular season wins for the Blackhawks with 260 - only trailing Glenn Hall and Tony Esposito. He ranks first in franchise history for playoff wins with 52. He’s the only Blackhawks goaltender to win multiple Stanley Cups. 

I’d say that’s a pretty good career. 

I hope one day we’ll see his #50 raised to the rafters of the United Center. If that happens, I just have one thing to say:

FUCKIN’ RIGHT, CHICAGO!