Crawford won’t be re-signed by Blackhawks

The 35-year-old goalie can become an unrestricted free agent Oct. 9.

“I had a conversation with Corey earlier today and it was an emotional talk,” Bowman said. “The message to Corey and to everyone is that we’ve decided we have some young goaltenders in Chicago we believe in, much like Corey [in 2010]. We have a couple young goalies in [Kevin] Lankinen and [Collin] Delia who we haven’t given a real opportunity to. With where we’re headed, the NHL is relying more and more on young players. We’re going to embrace that moving forward.”

Crawford was 16-20-3 with a 2.77 goals-against average, .917 save percentage and one shutout in 40 games (39 starts) with the Chicago Blackhawks this season and 4-5 with a 3.31 GAA and .907 save percentage in nine Stanley Cup Playoff games.

Selected by Chicago in the second round (No. 52) of the 2003 NHL Draft, Crawford is 260-162-53 with a 2.45 GAA, .918 save percentage and 26 shutouts in 488 games (474 starts) in 13 NHL seasons.

A two-time Stanley Cup champion (2013, 2015), Crawford is 52-42 with a 2.38 GAA, .918 save percentage and five shutouts in 96 playoff games. He’s third in Blackhawks history in wins behind Hockey Hall of Famers Tony Esposito (418) and Glenn Hall (276) and first in postseason victories (52).

“To be a two-time Stanley Cup champion, I think it speaks volumes,” Bowman said. “He’s up there with the legends, Glenn Hall, Tony Esposito, Corey Crawford.”

Bowman said Chicago would like to sign goalie Malcolm Subban, who can become a restricted free agent on Oct. 9. The 26-year-old was 9-7-3 with a 3.17 GAA and .890 save percentage in 21 games (19 starts) with the Vegas Golden Knights and Blackhawks this season. Chicago acquired him in a trade with Vegas on Feb. 24.

We haven’t signed Malcolm yet, we’re hopeful we can get him signed,” Bowman said. “But as I mentioned, we’re really looking forward to having a different feel to our team and look.”