Blackhawks Gearing Up To Sign Controversial Goalie?
The Chicago Blackhawks and general manager Stan Bowman will make some roster moves this summer as he continues building up for the future. One of those moves will be building up the goalie pipeline. As long as Corey Crawford is healthy, he should have no problem taking on the starting goalie role next year, Collin Delia can be the backup if he continues the magic he put together last year.However after that it gets a bit foggy. Cam Ward is likely on his way out of town as a UFA and Anton Forsberg is a restricted free agent. That would leave Kevin Lankinen as the only other goalie currently in the system. This could leave the Hawks' ready to finally work something out with 2014 6th round pick Ivan Nalimov. Nalimov had actually asked for a trade last year out of the Hawks' organization, however that was never worked out and the Hawks' still own his rights. The 25 year old had his contract terminated by the Kunlun Red Star of the KHL last year because of the league's financial troubles and ended up in a backup role with Omsk Avangard. Aside from the trade rumors, there's been chatter that Nalimov carries a lot of baggage with off ice issues but his talent might be too high to pass up. In a backup role with Avangard last year, Nalimov registered a 5-5-2 record with a 2.14 goals against average and .917 save percentage which included two shutouts in 14 games. It'll be interesting to see what happens next as 2018 6th round pick Alexis Gravel might be ready to sign a entry level deal.
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