Today we’re going to begin our series of previews looking ahead to the 2026-27 season for the Chicago Blackhawks. We’re breaking the previews up into goalies, defensemen and forwards. And we’ll start in the blue paint with the Hawks’ goaltending situation.
There were plenty of holes in the Blackhawks’ performance last year, but there were also areas where we saw good growth and development. I would argue the biggest positive sign last year was the emergence of a legit No. 1 goalie in Chicago who could be a foundational piece to take the entire program to the next level(s). Spencer Knight showed that he’s ready to lead the depth chart and is good enough to win games the Hawks maybe shouldn’t. Having a legit No. 1 goalie is important.
Two areas where the Blackhawks can help their goaltenders look better are allowing fewer shots on net and blocking more shots before they get to their netminders. Last year, the Blackhawks allowed 30.0 shots on goal per game, which ranked 31st in the NHL (only Toronto was worse). Knight saw 1,583 shots last year, the fourth-most in the NHL.
The Blackhawks averaged 12.27 blocked shots per game, which ranked 28th in the NHL (the Carolina Hurricanes were last). I will note that new defenseman Ian Cole‘s 151 blocked shots last year ranked 15th in the NHL last year. Departed Blackhawks defensemen Louis Crevier and Connor Murphy combined to block 182 shots last year. Alex Vlasic led the Hawks with 119 blocked shots.
Blackhawks goaltender Spencer KnightBlackhawks Starter: Spencer Knight
Last year, Knight took over the top spot on a depth chart for the first time in his NHL career and was terrific for the Blackhawks. He ranked sixth in the NHL in total minutes played by a goaltender (3,293:15) and his three shutouts were tied for tenth in the league last year.
According to MoneyPuck, Knight ranked 14th in the NHL last year with 10.9 goals saved above expected during the regular season. He posted a .951 save percentage on unblocked shots. In NHL.com’s piece that focuses on NHL EDGE stats of note for the Blackhawks heading into the 2026-27 season, I found this section on high-danger areas fascinating:
Goalie Spencer Knight, meanwhile, ranked second in high-danger saves (432; behind Ilya Sorokin of the New York Islanders with 452) and sixth in high-danger save percentage (.847) in his first year as a No. 1 goalie. Knight set NHL career highs and was among the League leaders in games played (55; tied for ninth) and shots faced (1,583; fourth), while also tying his career high in wins (19). Knight also tied for third in 5-on-5 save percentage in close situations (.931), meaning when a game is tied in the first or second period or within one goal in the third period.
Source: X / BarDownAs I mentioned earlier, Knight had to be good because he was busy last year. A more mature team is going to make an exceptional goaltender like Knight look even better to those fans who, again, only see the stats on the back of his hockey card. While the Blackhawks aren’t going to suddenly be as mature as the AARP card carrying Florida Panthers, most of the roster has another full year of experience under their belt.
The additions of Bowen Byram and Cole should help the blue line group a lot. And the additions of Jordan Greenway and Cole Smith could help the forwards on the penalty kill as well.
Knight showed last year that he’s a bona fide No. 1 goalie in the NHL. If he can continue to play that well and the guys in front of him get better, the Blackhawks are going to win more games.
Blackhawks goaltender Arvid SöderblomBlackhawks Depth: Arvid Söderblom, Drew Commesso
I was very interested to see how the Blackhawks front office handled Commesso’s second NHL contract this summer. He made three appearances last year in less that ideal circumstances and won two of those games, posting a .913 save percentage. Hockey Reference has him with 1.9 goals saved above expected in just three games — a really good number for a brief resume.
What intrigued me about the negotiations with Commesso was the term and structure of the contract. Söderblom has one year remaining on his contract that carries a modest $2.75M cap hit. When the Blackhawks announced a two-year deal with Commesso that’s two-way in the first year (2026-27) and one-way in the second, it became fairly clear that the organization views him as the back-up after the coming season.
The question in training camp — indeed, into the regular season — will be how long Söderblom retains the No. 2 spot on the depth chart.
After seemingly taking a step forward in 2024-25 when he got closer to a .900 save percentage, Söderblom wasn’t as good on the whole last year. He did record his first career NHL shutout. But the Blackhawks need him to step up.
I’ve defended Söderblom over the years; the play in front of him has been noticeably worse than other Blackhawks goalies. And he’s had some really good games in losses. But there is no question he has a lot on the line this year. If the Hawks want to be a playoff team, their backup goaltender can’t have an .880 save percentage — which is what Söderblom posted last year.
According to MoneyPuck, Söderblom ranked 47th of 72 goalies (min. 10 games played) in goals saved above expected (-4.0). Now, I will caveat that by including a few of the names below him in that category: Sam Montembeault, Elvis Merzlikins, Juuse Saros, Jacob Markstrom, Sergei Bobrovsky, Linus Ullmark, Yaroslav Askarov and Jordan Binnington.
I’m not asking for the Blackhawks to reinvent the depth chart when we watched Dominik Hašek behind Ed Belfour. But the backup needs to be good enough to at least keep his team in the game — if not steal one every once in a while.
You’ll see a lot of teams use three goalies throughout the course of a season now, even if they don’t carry three on their NHL roster full time. The Blackhawks have adequate depth at the NHL level right now. If Commesso can take another step forward and Söderblom feels the heat on his seat and improves, the Blackhawks could be in a good position between the pipes.
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