Goalie Controversy?

Ray Emery is set to start again tomorrow against the Sharks. Earlier in the season, when Emery was struggling, he was only set against the "easier" opponents. That's a lenient term because any team can win any night, but coach Q felt more confident with him in net against a weaker offense. Now Emery is being put up against a very good offense. There must be a reasoning behind playing Emery more often, but it may not be exactly what it seems to be. It's true that Crawford has struggled recently. He hasn't has as good of numbers as expected and has started to give up softer goals. Emery has been playing better in the past few games and is actually making a lot of good saves. The obvious conclusion is that Emery is playing more than Crawford because he is better and maybe Q wants to make him the starter similar to what is happening in Vancouver right now. I don't think that's the case, though.

I think that Quenneville knows exactly what he's doing by playing Emery more than Crawford right now. The first thing he's probably thinking is that Crawford could obviously use the rest because earlier in the season Q was afraid to start Emery because he had bad start after bad start. Now that Crawford can actually rest, Quenneville is going to do it as often as he can. The second thing is that he knows Crawford is in a slump, so he is trying to figure out how to get him out of it. When did Crawford play his best last year? When he is fighting for his job. If Emery continues to start continuously, Crawford is going to realize that he has to fight for his job and get with it.

There is no goalie controversy in Chicago, because Emery still isn't the starter. Crawford is the starter and he's a good one. All goalies need rest and by playing Emery more, Emery is getting better and starting to get in a groove. You can argue that by playing both of them equally and maybe even playing Emery more, the Blackhawks goaltending is better than it would be without a "controversy". You could also make the argument that the Blackhawks could have one of the best goalie tandems in the league at the end of the year. Blackhawks fans shouldn't be worried about Corey losing his job right after signing a big contract or becoming like Huet became. Sitting on the bench for a few games is making Crawford better.