Well, we can all climb off the offer sheet ledge for now, as the Hawks have announced that Corey Crawford has been extended for 3 more years, per the team's official site. No numbers have become available yet, but look for it to be in the same neighborhood as Jimmy Howard's $2.25 million annual cap hit. A 3:30 CDT conference call is scheduled, so terms figure to be disclosed at that time.

So it looks like the third time's the charm, after two straight years of dicking the dog on restricted free agents (the qualifying offer fax snafu with Tallon, and waiting long enough for Hjalmarsson to get an offer sheet last year), the Hawks finally got an important piece locked up early in the offseason with minimal drama.

Barring an outlandish Niemi-like number, this is a very, very good thing for the Hawks.

UPDATE: RDS' Renaud Lavoie (who?) is reporting a total value of $8 million on the deal, or a cap hit of $2.67 per. A little more than expected, but not outlandish.