The Chicago Blackhawks have their starting goaltender back after activating Corey Crawford from injured reserve Friday. In order to make room on the roster, Jean-Francois Berube was reassigned to the AHL.
Crawford has been out since the beginning of December due to injury, but he was active in practice Friday morning before Joel Quenneville revealed he was the expected starter. Now that move appears to be set in stone as Crawford is officially back on the active roster.
Berube, who joined the Hawks in the offseason, played just 44 minutes in relief of Anton Forsberg during his brief stint with the team. He failed to impress with 12 saves on 14 shots in a 6-2 blowout loss to the Capitals.
The Blackhawks did not need to place Berube on waivers because he was not on the team’s active roster for 30 days and did not play in 10 games since the last time he cleared waivers on Oct. 3.
The one big hope here is that the Blackhawks aren’t rushing back Crawford in order to put an end to their five-game losing streak. He’s too important long-term to be put at any unnecessary risk, so hopefully he just recovered more quickly than expected. You’d think a matchup against Buffalo, which is dead last in the NHL with a 7-17-4 record, wouldn’t be cause for desperation like that.