Quenneville has earned benefit of doubt in juggling veteran, youngster
Flat on his back in front of the goal during a practice break Thursday morning at the United Center, Blackhawks goalie Marty Turco flapped his arms and legs to make a snow angel on the ice.
Yep, Turco sure looked worried ? worried about showing off his handiwork to teammate Troy Brouwer.
The Hawks signed Turco to make a deeper and more lasting kind of impression this season, but also for throwaway moments like these that aren't as meaningless as they appear. For moments of levity and perspective when a struggling team needs them.
The day after the defending Stanley Cup champs fell to 1-2-1 while Turco watched youngster Corey Crawford in goal for the second straight game, the 35-year-old natural leader felt more eyes on him.
All of them looking for a cue, as far as Turco was concerned.
"Your body language and overall mystique and confidence gets funneled into how you're perceived," Turco acknowledged. "The position demands a certain demeanor. Really the only people I'm conscious of are my teammates. So just being me is fine and dandy."
In case you're wondering, Turco being Turco still is fine and dandy with coach Joel Quenneville, who will go back to his starter Friday night against the Blue Jackets.
Local perception grew after Quenneville inserted Crawford against the Predators on Wednesday that his faith in Turco had begun to waver. Given Turco's ordinary first two games and Quenneville's history with goalies, it wasn't exactly an Olympic-sized leap to make.
Realizing Quenneville would rather discuss grooming his mustache than choosing goalies, I asked Coach Q if "unsettled" would be a fair word to describe his team's goaltending situation.
"Goaltending's fine, we've got good goaltending," Quenneville answered. "Crawford gave us a chance to win. Marty's playing (Friday) night. We're happy with our goaltenders."
If Quenneville's happy, Hawks fans are happy. But we will keep monitoring the situation anyway.
The truth is that in both of the Hawks' losses, late mistakes by veteran defensemen ? a flop and a flip ? contributed to the defeats as much as the goaltending.
Against the Red Wings, John Scott flopped and opened a scoring lane for Valtteri Filppula who slid a shot under a screened Turco. Against the Predators, Nick Boynton flipped the puck into the stands for a delay-of-game penalty that set up the winning power-play goal past Crawford with 27 seconds left.
Additionally, a puck-possession team such as the Hawks needs to possess the puck more. Defense in the corners needs to improve. Now Patrick Kane is ill enough to likely miss Friday's game in Columbus. Alas, many things concern Quenneville more than the goalie situation.
"I don't see there is any 'goalie situation,' and I expect to be in every game," Turco said. "We're not where we want to be as a whole, and that's all that matters."
In other words, nobody needs to start checking to see if Cristobal Huet has passed through customs in Switzerland. Nor is anybody suggesting after four games that neither Turco nor Crawford can do the job well enough for this team to contend again.
Any unsettled feelings come from the familiarity of seeing Quenneville ride the hot hand of a young unknown goaltender, even for one game this early, at the expense of a veteran. Coach Q was standing in the same spot almost at the same time a year ago fielding questions about using Antti Niemi instead of Huet.
How Quenneville successfully handled that earns him the benefit of the doubt dealing with this, whatever it becomes. Though I doubt it becomes anything.
I wouldn't be the only person in Chicago shocked if Turco loses his game, his confidence and eventually his job the way Huet did last season. He has been too good for too long to fail at an opportunity at which he arrived determined to prove something.
As for Crawford, before I asked him about his play in back-to-back starts, I wanted to ask to see his driver's license. His bio says he was born in 1984, but he barely looks old enough to have a paper route.
Crawford resembles Niemi only in the way he has shown a knack for overcoming slow starts to finish strong, but it would be premature to predict a similar arc to his season.
"I learned in those games to just keep battling and not to pack it in when you think it's going to be a rough night," said Crawford, 25. "We're going to push each other for playing time."
The Hawks will need both goaltenders during a grueling 82-game season, and both need each other, which makes the dynamic between the two guys 10 years apart more collegial than competitive.
"I think the relationship between Corey and I has been a positive one and will continue to grow," Turco said. "It's an important one to me and to the locker room. We're in it together."
This is far from a goalie controversy. It's more like a goalie curiosity. Until Turco gets in a rhythm many expect him to find, it's OK to wonder.
That's as far as it should go.
Flat on his back in front of the goal during a practice break Thursday morning at the United Center, Blackhawks goalie Marty Turco flapped his arms and legs to make a snow angel on the ice.
Yep, Turco sure looked worried ? worried about showing off his handiwork to teammate Troy Brouwer.
The Hawks signed Turco to make a deeper and more lasting kind of impression this season, but also for throwaway moments like these that aren't as meaningless as they appear. For moments of levity and perspective when a struggling team needs them.
The day after the defending Stanley Cup champs fell to 1-2-1 while Turco watched youngster Corey Crawford in goal for the second straight game, the 35-year-old natural leader felt more eyes on him.
All of them looking for a cue, as far as Turco was concerned.
"Your body language and overall mystique and confidence gets funneled into how you're perceived," Turco acknowledged. "The position demands a certain demeanor. Really the only people I'm conscious of are my teammates. So just being me is fine and dandy."
In case you're wondering, Turco being Turco still is fine and dandy with coach Joel Quenneville, who will go back to his starter Friday night against the Blue Jackets.
Local perception grew after Quenneville inserted Crawford against the Predators on Wednesday that his faith in Turco had begun to waver. Given Turco's ordinary first two games and Quenneville's history with goalies, it wasn't exactly an Olympic-sized leap to make.
Realizing Quenneville would rather discuss grooming his mustache than choosing goalies, I asked Coach Q if "unsettled" would be a fair word to describe his team's goaltending situation.
"Goaltending's fine, we've got good goaltending," Quenneville answered. "Crawford gave us a chance to win. Marty's playing (Friday) night. We're happy with our goaltenders."
If Quenneville's happy, Hawks fans are happy. But we will keep monitoring the situation anyway.
The truth is that in both of the Hawks' losses, late mistakes by veteran defensemen ? a flop and a flip ? contributed to the defeats as much as the goaltending.
Against the Red Wings, John Scott flopped and opened a scoring lane for Valtteri Filppula who slid a shot under a screened Turco. Against the Predators, Nick Boynton flipped the puck into the stands for a delay-of-game penalty that set up the winning power-play goal past Crawford with 27 seconds left.
Additionally, a puck-possession team such as the Hawks needs to possess the puck more. Defense in the corners needs to improve. Now Patrick Kane is ill enough to likely miss Friday's game in Columbus. Alas, many things concern Quenneville more than the goalie situation.
"I don't see there is any 'goalie situation,' and I expect to be in every game," Turco said. "We're not where we want to be as a whole, and that's all that matters."
In other words, nobody needs to start checking to see if Cristobal Huet has passed through customs in Switzerland. Nor is anybody suggesting after four games that neither Turco nor Crawford can do the job well enough for this team to contend again.
Any unsettled feelings come from the familiarity of seeing Quenneville ride the hot hand of a young unknown goaltender, even for one game this early, at the expense of a veteran. Coach Q was standing in the same spot almost at the same time a year ago fielding questions about using Antti Niemi instead of Huet.
How Quenneville successfully handled that earns him the benefit of the doubt dealing with this, whatever it becomes. Though I doubt it becomes anything.
I wouldn't be the only person in Chicago shocked if Turco loses his game, his confidence and eventually his job the way Huet did last season. He has been too good for too long to fail at an opportunity at which he arrived determined to prove something.
As for Crawford, before I asked him about his play in back-to-back starts, I wanted to ask to see his driver's license. His bio says he was born in 1984, but he barely looks old enough to have a paper route.
Crawford resembles Niemi only in the way he has shown a knack for overcoming slow starts to finish strong, but it would be premature to predict a similar arc to his season.
"I learned in those games to just keep battling and not to pack it in when you think it's going to be a rough night," said Crawford, 25. "We're going to push each other for playing time."
The Hawks will need both goaltenders during a grueling 82-game season, and both need each other, which makes the dynamic between the two guys 10 years apart more collegial than competitive.
"I think the relationship between Corey and I has been a positive one and will continue to grow," Turco said. "It's an important one to me and to the locker room. We're in it together."
This is far from a goalie controversy. It's more like a goalie curiosity. Until Turco gets in a rhythm many expect him to find, it's OK to wonder.
That's as far as it should go.
