Blackhawks' Goalies Performing Well to Start the Season

Coming into the season, the Blackhawks goaltending was most likely not being looked at as a strength. Through four games, Mrazek and Söderblom have split the starts, each with two games under their belts. In both of the games each goalie has lost, they still performed fairly well and maintained a respectable save percentage, not allowing the games to reach a blowout. The goaltenders (with the help of good defensive play) have kept the Hawks in every game they've played in so far, and that is a promising sign for what is yet to come this year.

2023-2024 Season Stats (so far):

Arvid Söderblom: 2 GP / 1 W / 1 L / 1.51 GAA / .955 SV% Per NHL.com

Petr Mrazek: 2 GP / 1 W / 1 L / 2.54 GAA / .935 SV% Per NHL.com

Mrazek looked especially sharp with 41 saves in the season opening win against Pittsburgh. He faced a particularly high shot volume and definitely provided the Hawks with some momentum in the game with big time saves. I think the Blackhawks still intend to lean on Mrazek for the bulk of the team's starts, especially if he keeps playing at a high level like he has so far this season. However, we might see a bit more of a rotation if Söderblom keeps his play up as well.

Söderblom also had a standout performance of his own, stopping 35 shots and only letting in one goal versus a very talented Toronto team. Söderblom made some key saves late in the game to keep the Hawks lead at two goals, and it seems like the TV broadcast was praising him often due to his performance. This game was only Söderblom's 20th NHL career start, and while he has only started in two games this season, he looks to have definitely improved his game over the offseason. If he can keep this play up, he may make a good argument to be the team's starting goalie over Petr Mrazek.

Again, we are only four games into the season and there are many games to be played, but I think the play from the goaltenders so far does warrant even a little bit of excitement. If these two goalies can remain consistent for the entire season, then this team should win a lot more games than they did last year.

The long-term future of the Hawk's goaltending is still up for grabs, but Drew Commesso is still probably the most enticing prospect the team has in net. He is still very young and most likely years away from being a starting goalie in the NHL. Söderblom is only 24 years old and if he can play at a high level consistently this year and the next, he may have a shot at earning a long-term spot on this roster. Having too many good goalies is a great problem to have, and hopefully it is a problem that the Hawks will be facing in their future.

Per NHL.com