Monday Flurries: Crawford gone again

The next time the Colorado Avalanche face the Chicago Blackhawks, don’t expect Corey Crawford to man the crease.

The Chicago starter left Sunday night’s game with a concussion just 18 minutes into play, following a nasty-looking collision with one of his own players — but seemingly at the hands of Sharks forward Evander Kane, who appeared to guide Strome towards the blue paint to set the collision off:

The team confirmed after the fact that sure enough, Crawford had just suffered another concussion.

It’s miserable news for the franchise, since he spent nearly 10 months this past year recovering from one suffered around this time in December of 2017. But it’s even worse news for Crawford himself, whom no one wants to see going through another concussion. [Second City Hockey]

In Avalanche land: Barstool’s Spittin’ Chiclets podcast hosted Erik Johnson and Tyson Barrie earlier this year — and after joking about how they’re always good for one goal for and one against, Johnson has been reaching some awesome milestones:

When asked who they thought the most underrated player on the team was, Barrie didn’t seem to quite understand what those words meant and mentioned Mikko Rantanen.

He’s certainly not underrated any longer, but he’s also not even close to being done impressing this year. Here’s a look at how he could be the league’s best single-season scoring forward since Mario Lemieux or Wayne Greztky. [Mile High Hockey]

And looking at how he got there, this is a deep dive into what brought Rantanen to the top of the team’s scoring list. [Sportsnet]

It’s also time for another update on Jack Hughes, who could end up with Colorado if Ottawa tanks their season. [NHL.com]

With the World Juniors coming up, it’s also cool to see how he and his older brother Quinn could make the jump to the NHL together next year. [NHL.com]

Finally, the Arizona Coyotes have been without the injured Jason Demers on the ice — but he’s keeping people amused with his off-ice tweets: