Blackhawks Make Smart Move In Bringing Back Ray Emery
It looks like the Chicago Blackhawks will go into a summer without a single question about their goaltending situation. After signing Corey Crawford to a multi-year contract last summer, the Hawks agreed to a one-year contract extension with Ray Emery on Saturday.
Emery made the team on a training camp tryout, beating out goaltending prospect Alexander Salak for the job to backup Crawford. His new deal with the Blackhawks is worth $1.15 million.
Despite his checkered injury history, which left his hockey future in doubt, Ray Emery has done an admirable job backing up Crawford this season. He’s dazzled at times and has been mediocre plenty this year, but overall he’s been exactly what the Blackhawks wanted.
He’s stepped in for the occasional spot start, but where he proved most valuable was during Crawford’s putrid stretch this season, which left Emery in the starting role for a pretty good chunk of the year. He came in and held down the crease, as unspectacular as he might have been.
Emery has won 15 games on the year, appearing in 34 games, which his his highest total since the 2006-07 season, when he was with the Ottawa Senators. His save percentage isn’t great at .900, but his GAA is respectable, sitting at 2.81 on the season.
Ray Emery hasn’t won over the amount of fans in Chicago that a guy like Dan Carcillo has, but this is a great move by the Blackhawks. Emery is a more than capable backup, and is a hard-nosed competitor. He’s the type of guy you want behind your starter.
Emery becomes the second new face signed to a new contract, with Dan Carcillo already having signed a new two-year contract extension. Hopefully, Stan Bowman‘s next move involves some sort of extension for defenseman Johnny Oduya.
Buy Chicago Blackhawks Tickets | Buy Chicago Blackhawks ApparelOne Rant to “Blackhawks Make Smart Move In Bringing Back Ray Em...”
Leave a Rant
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
If he ever decides to drop the gloves he’ll win over every Blackhawks fan on the planet. Emery can throw down like no other goalie.