An extension is understandable, but six years for a goaltender?

Terms yet to be disclosed...Stan presser later today.

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Not a mult.

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"This is Chicago, my friend. Anything can happen."

Not really sure why do this after signing the Finnish kid? Either way 6 years is likely going rate for a good goalie. At least right now it does not see like some crazy Luongo contract.

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Hopefully they did this because he agreed to way less money than what he would of received on the open market.

Fucking Right Chicago.

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Fuckin' worked his nuts off for that extension.

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Just start the fucking season already.

$36 million is the deal, apparently.

Better hope that cap goes up because Hammer is more important to this team long term than Crawford.

What about the phenom from Finland or whatever Viking country he is from?

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Don't worry about the cap crunch. It's going to go way up with the new Canadian TV deals. We're talking like $80 million and higher.

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Camp opens in 10 days

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That's my purse! I don't know you!

Dynasty

He is the Joe Flacco of Goalies.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Could be a very risky contract. I won't take anything away from his stellar performance last year and the fact he was primarily responsible for both the incredible position of this team going into the playoffs and throughout the cup run; however, he only proved it for a lockout-shortened season. I would have thought they would have waited until the end of this season before making this move. The whole bad gloveside thing is really not my biggest worry. Its the mental lapses late in the season and his tendency to be out of position and let up dumb goals. Raanta may prove to be a #1, which would make this look even worse if Crawford shits the bed near the end of this season and into the playoffs. That said, I think he was more instrumental than Niemi in winning a cup and probably deserved a good portion of this.

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Not a great a idea. He had a year left, let him prove he could do it in a full season without basically platooning with Emery.

Its an odd extension considering their Finnish goalie draft pick but anyone saying Crawford hasnt proved his mettle is nuts. He's as ready for a "full season" of being good as Niemi was after they lost him and people were shitting the bed when he left after the Cup run.

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Proud member of the white guy grievance committee

It aint the six minutes. Its what happens in those six minutes.

be prepared for 2 bad, very bad years out of this deal.
Goalies are twitchy weird fucks. And they go thru weird twitchy spurts.

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"Play until it hurts, then play until it hurts to not play."
http://soundcloud.com/darkside124 HOF 2013, MM Champion 2014

I think the deal can be traded in the future if need be. That makes it a pretty good deal.

I'm prepared. Ryan EmoDouche Miller was considered to be the best goalie in the game a few years ago by many. Now he might not even make Team USA.

Niemi was an average goalie on an incredible team. How many times did he only have to make 10-20 saves in a game? A whole lot. Not sure people were that up in arms about losing him. I remember my concern being that we were left with Huet and Crawford at the time if memory serves me right, neither were proven winners.

I'll give you that Crawford had a heck of a strong run this season. He should have won the Conn Smythe. That said, he still has poor mechanics and can tend to get deep in his net and let up soft goals. The "glove thing" isn't a sign of weakness to me. As I have said in the past, Belfour rode his so-so glove all the way to the Hall of Fame. I always assumed Crawfords' mechanics worsened from fatigue and all I am saying is that I want to see him have that same mental toughness this full season as he had from the cup run last season before I feel comfortable with a long term deal.

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Whether it'll actually happen, who can say, but I'm pretty sure the hope is that Khabibulin can be effective enough to keep Crawford under 58 starts. I'm sure the same will be said for Rantaa.

Also, Crawford had his bad season when the possession system didn't have the personnel to click due to injury (Toews) or wrong people (Brunette, Morrison, Carcillo). Emery kinda sucked as well before they both rebounded when the defense shored up big this year. As the rest of the team goes, so goes Crawford.

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Considering Rask for 56 for 8 years, the Hawks may have done well here.

This makes sense and I agree to an extent. I see it differently, I guess. Here's the top 20 http://www.sportscity.com/nhl-salaries- ... 012/11/17/

I look at the list and think okay goalie salaries are higher now than they were a few years ago. Maybe worth it for Rinne, Lundqvist, or Ward. That's some bad money for Luongo or Fluery and some others. I'm happy it's for less time and money than Rask's 8 years/$56 million but I was hoping for 5M/3-4 years. 6 years for a goalie is too much. I think I like Niemi at 4M over Crawford at 6M.

I agree he should have gotten the Conn Smythe, but man does he give up some bad ones. You are probably going to lose some of the defense too because of this. I think it's odd that you are paying a guy you weren't sure was a starter this season 6M/6years. Emery had almost the same stats. Kane and Toews are up this year and I thought they were going to go with the pay for what's in front of the goalie not so much for the goalie theory.

I'm not clear on why they didn't wait. I don't think his stock is going to go up. Let half this season or the whole year play out.

He's not always my favorite but I do like him. His teammates like him. It will be nice to have a goalie long term, I guess. It's been a ? since I've started watching.