Craig Anderson

Craig Anderson, born May 21, 1981, in Park Ridge, Illinois, was selected by the Chicago Blackhawks in the third round — 10th pick of the round — of the 2001 NHL Draft. The left-catching goaltender, listed at 6'2" and 187 pounds, went on to play 709 games in the NHL, recording 319 wins, 275 losses, 71 overtime losses, a 2.86 goals-against average, a .912 save percentage, and 43 shutouts.

Among his NHL peers, Anderson built a reputation for his ability to read plays and shots. Former teammate Chris Driedger went so far as to tell InGoal that Anderson had "the best reads in the NHL" — a characterization that recurs across InGoal's coverage of him ^{[1] [2]}.

InGoal Magazine has covered Craig Anderson in six Pro Reads. The first two, produced in late 2019, had Anderson sitting down with InGoal between periods of a game in Vancouver to review his own game footage ^[3]. One of those early sessions focused on a rush chance against the Columbus Blue Jackets, with puck carrier Boone Jenner driving wide to Anderson's blocker side while Zach Werenski provided a middle-ice option ^[3]. A second session examined Anderson's read of Montreal's Charles Hudon on a solo rush from the left wing, with InGoal noting that Anderson's save selection reflected his individual size and the techniques within his repertoire ^[4].

By his third Pro Read appearance, the focus again fell on rush situations — this time a 4-on-3 chance against the Montreal Canadiens ^[5]. Anderson discussed in that session how he considered what his defenders were covering in order to narrow his own focus, and he described a scramble recovery that relied on a reverse C-cut from his knees — a movement he openly acknowledged would not have been part of his game five years earlier. "I would have been swimming for sure," he said ^[5].

His fourth Pro Read covered a 3-on-2 off a zone turnover against the Canadiens, featuring Max Domi as the puck carrier ^[6]. Anderson described challenging Domi as he entered the zone in an effort to dictate the play and force a pass. When the sequence ended with Anderson resorting to a two-pad stack — what he called "more of an 'oh crap moment'" — he explained that he had prioritized covering the middle-net drive and acknowledged losing track of the backdoor option in the process ^[6].

His fifth Pro Read again involved a screened shot situation, this time off a 3-on-2 rush originating from a turnover in the Ottawa zone ^[2]. With defensive screens blocking his view of the release, Anderson described relying on situational reads rather than tracking the puck directly. He also discussed coming well out on the initial attacker as a way of effectively trying to dictate a pass — an approach InGoal noted he had employed in the previous session against Domi as well ^[2].

The sixth Pro Read examined a sharp-angle attack with a backdoor passing option, centering on Anderson's decisions about when to drop into and come back up from the reverse-VH position ^[1]. Anderson explained the specific reasons he chose that position in each instance during the sequence, and what it took away in each case. InGoal noted that Anderson had only added the reverse-VH to his game in the past couple of seasons at that point ^[1].