Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford may miss rest of season

Corey Crawford has been out for almost a month, and the Chicago Blackhawks may be without him for far longer.

Chicago Blackhawks goalie Corey Crawford last played on Dec. 23, when he allowed three goals in less than 14 minutes against the New Jersey Devils. A collision two nights prior left him with what was deemed to be an upper body injury, and he was placed on injured reserve coming out of the Christmas break.

Now, as the Blackhawks go through their bye week, the news regarding Crawford has turned bleak. According to the Chicago Sun-Times, the team fears Crawford will miss the rest of the season with vertigo-like symptoms. Head coach Joel Quenneville said earlier this month that Crawford would return this season, so this news runs counter to that.

Crawford was having an excellent season prior to his injury, with a 16-9-2 record, a .929 save percentage and a 2.27 goals against-average. During an up-and-down season for the Blackhawks, which has them in last place in the Central Division and three points out of a Wild Card playoff spot entering Wednesday’s action, Crawford has been a point of reliability.

Crawford also missed time toward the end of the 2015-16 season with reported symptoms of vertigo. He missed almost four weeks then, and was able to return for a first-round playoff series against the St. Louis Blues. At this point, Crawford’s status for the playoffs this year has to be considered unclear at best. Assuming the Blackhawks even make it.

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At the very least, Crawford does not seem close to returning and will remain out indefinitely as previously indicated by the team.

In place of the two-time Stanley Cup winning goaltender the Blackhawks will continue to rely on Anton Forsberg (3-6-3, .911 save percentage, 2.92 GAA this season) and Jeff Glass (3-2-1, .910 save percentage, 3.18 GAA), and their combined 27 career NHL starts. They have stayed relatively afloat over their last 10 games, with a 5-4-1 record, but continuing to hover around .500 without Crawford will not be enough for Chicago to make a real playoff push.