5 fascinating facts about Blackhawks goalie Spencer Knight

Since the days of Corey Crawford leading the Chicago Blackhawks to Stanley Cup parades, the franchise has been looking for a bona fide No. 1 goalie, someone to build around to become a contender again. With a young Connor Bedard leading the charge up front, the Blackhawks traded Seth Jones to the Florida Panthers for goalie Spencer Knight, who was the 13th overall pick at the 2019 NHL Draft.

Before relocating to the Windy City, Knight played just 80 games and posted a 44-25-7 record. Since arriving in Chicago, he has established himself as the Blackhawks' No. 1 goalie, posting a 24-33-13 record with the rebuilding club. After a brief debut, General Manager Kyle Davidson extended Knight to a three-year contract, with a modest $5.3 million cap hit. Since he's going to be tending goal until the end of the decade, here are five fascinating things to know about Knight's hockey career.

Knight does not have his name on the Stanley Cup

Knight made his NHL debut with the Panthers in 2020-21, playing four games, going a perfect 4-0-0 with a .919 SV% and 2.32 GAA. By the time the franchise reached the Stanley Cup Final in 2023 with Sergei Bobrovsky, Knight was a third-string goalie behind Alex Lyon. When the club won it all the following year, he didn’t skate a single game in the NHL that year and wasn’t eligible to have his name engraved on the Stanley Cup.

However, after 45 games with the Charlotte Checkers, producing a 25-14-5 record, Knight was one of the Panthers' black aces for the playoffs. When they defeated the Edmonton Oilers on June 24, 2024, Knight strapped on his pads and took a twirl with the Stanley Cup. Although his name isn't engraved on the Stanley Cup, Knight still shared one of the celebration's most memorable moments when he handed the trophy to head coach Paul Maurice for his first-ever Stanley Cup lift.

Won a Bronze, Silver, and Gold at World Juniors

Knight's international resume includes several medals with Team USA across the U17, U18, and U20 levels. He first captured Gold at the 2017 World Under-17 Hockey Challenge before helping the United States earn Silver at the 2018 IIHF U18 World Championship. He returned a year later to claim Bronze while leading the event in both GAA and SV%. At the U20 World Juniors, Knight added a Silver Medal in 2019 before backstopping Team USA to Gold in 2021, earning Top 3 Player on Team honors in consecutive tournaments. That same season at Boston College, Knight was named Hockey East's Player of the Year and Goaltender of the Year and became a Hobey Baker Award finalist.

Knight is just one of five goalies from Connecticut

As of 2026, only 43 players have come from the state of Connecticut, including 38 skaters and five goalies. Out of the players on this list, there’s an argument that netminder Jonathan Quick is the greatest player from the state, with three Stanley Cup rings and a Conn Smythe Trophy, and the most wins by an American-born goalie. Other famous players from Knight’s home state include Chris Drury, Max Pacioretty, Ron Hainsey, and Nick Bonino. Thus far, Knight has played 150 games and ranks second all-time, trailing Quick, who played in 829. Moreover, with 68 wins, he’s chasing the future Hall of Famer’s total of 410.

One of 39 goalies selected in the top 15 at the NHL Draft

The first NHL Amateur Draft took place in 1963, and the first goalie ever selected was Ken Dryden, whom the Boston Bruins took with the 14th pick in the 1964 draft. Since then, there have been a total of 39 goalies taken in the first 15 spots in NHL history. When the Panthers selected Knight with the 13th overall pick in 2019, he was the first netminder taken that high since the Dallas Stars selected Jack Campbell 11th overall in 2010.

In the past 10 years, only six goalies have been selected in the first round, with two taken in the Top 15: Iaroslav Askarov (2020 - 11th overall) and Sebastian Cossa (2021 - 15th overall). Moreover, several legendary goalies have been drafted higher than 15th overall, including Dryden (14th), Grant Fuhr (8th), Tom Barrasso (5th), Roberto Luongo (4th), and Marc-André Fleury (1st).

Knight is forever linked to the NHL all-time goal record

Most NHL goaltenders surrender milestone goals at some point in their careers, whether it's a player's first, 100th, or even 500th lamplighter. But very few become part of hockey history. On April 4, 2025, Alex Ovechkin scored his 894th career goal on Knight, tying Wayne Gretzky's all-time NHL record. Only one other goalie, Wade Flaherty, can say he was on the ice for one of hockey's most iconic goals, surrendering Gretzky's final regular-season goal, No. 894, on March 29, 1999.

Knight has also been on the wrong side of several other career milestones, especially among Swedish players, allowing Otto Stenberg's and Joel Nyström's first NHL goals, and Erik Karlsson's 200th career goal. Interestingly, only one player has even beaten Knight for a hat trick, defenseman Simon Nemec, who recorded the first and only hat trick of his NHL career in a 4-3 victory on Nov. 12, 2025.

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