The numbers prove me right.
For both 2015 and 2016 Crawford posted a .924 SV%. Over both years total, his SV% is 3rd in the league among starters behind Schneider (.925) and Price (.937).
In the same 2 years combined the 'hawks en masse were 22nd in SA/GP at 30.5: Tied with Philly, and better than only the Oil, Canucks, Leafs, Coyotes, Jackets, Sens, Avs, and Sabres. Further, it's not some anomaly that can be explained away by a player: the 2015 'hawks were at 30.2 SA/GP and the 2016 were at 30.8 SA/GP--there was no significant core loss in those years and the ore players remained steady. For comparison: in 2014 the 'hawks were 4th with 27.2 SA/GP and in 2013 they were 4th with 26.2.
Same general core of defensive players: Keith, Seabs, Hjammer, Toews, Hossa, Kruger, etc. The only significant defensive loss was Sharp and Oduya, but they barely made a scratch after they left. The team's shot suppression (a key aspect of defense) went from being able to protect almost any G, to exposing them like a man getting a prostate exam.
Yet, Crawford rose to the challenge with a Jennings trophy and was a strong Vezina candidate last season.
Last season Crawford and Schneider played 58 games and both finished with a .924 SV%. The difference is Crawford saw 1718 shots, while Schneider saw 1597. It equates out to 9 more goals Crawford let in simply because he saw more rubber. Had Crawford saved those more goals, he would have been riding a .929 SV%--which would have been 2nd in the league.
Moving forward I think the big thing is: How much better--realistically--can we expect Crawford to be? Over the past 2 seasons he's been 3rd amongst starting netminders in SV% and has seen a metric Shit-tonne of shots. If the ultimate goal is scoring goals and preventing goals against, to expect him to be better would be expecting performances on par with guys like Price and Lundqvist--FHoF performances: Out of a 6 for 6 netminder.
On the flipside, Keith is all-world at D. Seabrook should be up there with his defensive game. Toews is a 2-time Selke. Hossa got screwed out of winning a Selke simply because he plays wing. Hjammer is probably one of the best pure defensive defensemen in the game today, and Kruger is a great defensive forward--among everyone else we've iced. Yet the team combined is bottom-ten in the league at preventing shots over the past 2 years.
Kempny, Pokka, and Campbell aside: The 30M we're paying our returning defensive-style (not position) players needs to pay some dividends like it hasn't the past 2 years. Even preventing 2 shots per game (which is not unrealistic give who we have and what we're paying them) would put the 'hawks back in the top 10 for SA/GP, and given Crawford was the reason we pulled in the Jennings in 2015 and were 10th in GA/GP in spite of being 24th in SA/GP, that wuld pay huge dividends and take some pressure off the O.
