Subban ready to help Blackhawks if Crawford can't play in Cup Qualifiers

CHICAGO -- Malcolm Subban said he would be ready to start for the Chicago Blackhawks against the Edmonton Oilers in the Stanley Cup Qualifiers if Corey Crawford can't.

"It could obviously end up being the opportunity of a lifetime," the goalie said after practice Wednesday. "For me, it's just taking it day by day and continuing to work hard and make sure I'm ready if I get an opportunity."

Crawford, ruled "unfit to play" by the Blackhawks on Monday, has not participated in the first three days of training camp. The 35-year-old also didn't take part in Chicago's voluntary workouts that started June 8.

Crawford was 16-20-3 with a 2.77 goals-against average and .917 save percentage in 40 games (39 starts) before the season was paused March 12 due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus. The pending unrestricted free agent, who won the Stanley Cup with the Blackhawks in 2013 and 2015, had been healthy this season after missing 80 games the previous two seasons because of concussions.

The Blackhawks have four goalies participating in camp (Subban, Collin Delia, Kevin Lankinen and Matt Tomkins). Coach Jeremy Colliton has rotated Subban, Delia and Lankinen during practices.

"I think the work ethic from all three of those guys has been good and that makes us feel good about the preparation they're doing to take hold of that opportunity," Colliton said. "We have a situation now where we've talked about it being open competition for a spot, whether that's the starting position or the backup when we start [the qualifier series]."

The Blackhawks (32-30-8, .514 points percentage) enter the Qualifiers as the No. 12 seed in the Western Conference; the Oilers (37-25-9, .585) are the No. 5 seed. Game 1 of their best-of-5 series is Aug. 1 at Rogers Place in Edmonton, the hub city for the 12 Western teams in the NHL Return to Play Plan. The winner will advance to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the loser will have a chance at the No. 1 pick in the 2020 NHL Draft in the Second Phase of the NHL Draft Lottery, to be held Aug. 10.

"We've rotated those three guys through the first group and the plan is to continue to do that, so that everyone gets a shot to show themselves and for us to get a bigger picture," Colliton said. "We already have a small sample size, but to handicap [the competition] a few ice times in, we're not going to do that. But I think the competition between them is going to be very interesting to watch."

Subban has the most NHL experience of the three goalies; he's 30-23-7 with a 2.97 GAA and .899 save percentage in 66 games with the Boston Bruins, Vegas Golden Knights and Blackhawks, who acquired him from the Golden Knights for goalie Robin Lehner on Feb. 24. Subban was 9-7-3 with a 3.17 GAA and .890 save percentage in 21 games (19 starts) this season.

Delia is 7-5-3 with a 3.65 GAA and .906 save percentage in 18 NHL games, all with the Blackhawks, and has not played in an NHL game this season. Lankinen does not have any NHL experience.

Neither Subban nor Delia has played in a Stanley Cup Playoff game.

Subban has been in Chicago for a while and participated in voluntary workouts with several Blackhawks players, including forwards Patrick Kane, Alex DeBrincat, Dylan Strome and Alex Nylander.

"He's got a huge opportunity here now, and it's going to be a lot of fun this playoff," Nylander said of Subban.

Subban said the voluntary workouts helped him get back into shape for camp, where he's now working on other parts of his game.

"For me, especially being an explosive athlete, my endurance is what usually goes first, so I try to stay on top of my endurance," he said. "We were skating for three or four weeks and I thought I was back on all the small things. Then I got on the ice with Jimmy (Waite, Blackhawks goaltending coach) for the first time and I realized I still had a lot of stuff to work on. But getting out there and trying to correct those little bad habits that form and just getting back into game shape every skate will help."

The Blackhawks will travel to Edmonton on July 26 and play the St. Louis Blues in an exhibition game there three days later. And if Subban gets the call against the Oilers, he plans to be ready.

"Maybe it's toughest for goalies (with a shorter camp), but I feel like it's going to be tough for everyone," he said. "It's not the usual routine. You're just trying to get into shape and skate as much as you can and doing some of the scrimmages at camp. That helps a lot as well. I think it's just about skating and trying to get back into form as quickly as possible."